[comp.lang.smalltalk] Smalltalk vs. Actor

bmyers@ucrmath.ucr.edu (brian myers) (03/03/91)

	A few weeks ago, someone posted a question to this newsgroup, and I have
been reading it ever since hoping to see an answer.  To date I haven't.  The 
question was: which is better, Actor or Smalltalk?  Granted this is a very general
question, so I'll try to elaborate.

	I will be contract programming and consulting and deal with Windows often.
What I need is a rich toolset, fast and efficient execution, and, partly to 
support the last, a multi-language interface.  A standard language syntax is less
important (though I do prefer Smalltalk syntax to Actor's).

	I know about Actor's Library class and how to use it, but how does ST
interface to DLLs (I don't care what make or version of ST).

	How do the toolsets that come with the respective products compare.  
How about toolsets that don't come with the products (I assume there are more 
for ST).  Actor comes with a parser class that can read yacc tables.  Does ST have
this or can it be easily obtained?  Actor also comes with classes for creating 
text editing windows.  Does ST.  Do either of these limit the amount of text in the
window (the Actor version 1.0 manual doesn't say).  What's this I hear about 
Prolog/V?  Is it comprable to the Arity prolog for Windows?

	Actor defaults to static method lookup, but provides the perform message to
do a dynamic method lookup if it is needed.  Does Digitalk (or Parc Place) break
from the original ST standard and support static method lookup?  If not, what type
of performance loss results?  Are there other speed/efficiency concerns that set
the two languages apart?

	In Actor you can make call to SDK directly, i.e. Textout(....  How about
ST.

	And finally, how does ST support generation of stand-alone applicatoins?
Actor has an awkward method of removing unused classes and supplying a seperate,
reduced size interpreter that can be renamed and distributed as an application.
Does ST charge royalties on distributed applications?

	I chose to post my questions to the news first, before I talked to the
companies becuase I'm more likely to get impartial information.  Any answers
would be appreciated, no matter how small.

--------------------------------------------------------
"...and why do I have this strange urge to say -- YO" -Dale  |   Brian D. Myers
Peon UCR graduate student.                                   |   D is for (Dale)