[comp.sys.mac.programmer] Smalltalk / V

tim@sol0.cs.monash.edu.au (NAME) (06/14/91)

Is Smalltalk/V the same language used in Smalltalk-80?

What is Smalltalk/V like for programming? I read an old article
in Byte which said Apple's version of Smalltalk was abandoned
as it was too slow. Does DigiTalk's SmallTalk/V suffer from
slowness or any other inefficiences? Can Smalltalk/V create
standalones or is it just in an interpreting environment?

I have read there is a version of Smalltalk-80 for the Mac which
costs around $900 (Australian Dollars). Is it that much better
than Smalltalk/V?

Thanks.

Michael_I_Summers@cup.portal.com (06/14/91)

To answer some of your questions:

1. Smalltalk/V is pretty much Smalltalk-80 from a syntax point of view. There
is a large difference in the classes implemented, and the window models are
not the same.

2. Smalltalk/V is going to have a new version this summer that will support
standalone app's (no royalties, etc...). The language is interpreted, and 
slower than tightly coded assembler, but I've no complaints.

3. Smalltalk-80 from ParcPlace for the Mac is now $3,500 (US) with the advent
of release 4 (a major blunder IMHO).

Once Digitalk unifies V Mac, V WIndows, and V PM to use the same window model
and classes it will be an excellent, portable, development system. I love PP
Smalltalk-80, but ouch that price! :(

Mike

dmac@athena.mit.edu (David S. McCormick) (06/18/91)

In article <43302@cup.portal.com>, Michael_I_Summers@cup.portal.com writes:
> 
> To answer some of your questions:
> 
> 1. Smalltalk/V is pretty much Smalltalk-80 from a syntax point of view. There
> is a large difference in the classes implemented, and the window models are
> not the same.
> 
> 2. Smalltalk/V is going to have a new version this summer that will support
> standalone app's (no royalties, etc...). The language is interpreted, and 
> slower than tightly coded assembler, but I've no complaints.
> 
> 3. Smalltalk-80 from ParcPlace for the Mac is now $3,500 (US) with the advent
> of release 4 (a major blunder IMHO).
> 
> Once Digitalk unifies V Mac, V WIndows, and V PM to use the same window model
> and classes it will be an excellent, portable, development system. I love PP
> Smalltalk-80, but ouch that price! :(
> 
> Mike
> 
> 

The reason for the high price of Smalltalk-80 in which the source code
that have a platform-independent
Smalltalk for Mac, Openlook, Windows 3.0, and Motif. The exact same source code will
supposedly compile without modification on the system-specific implementation of 
Smalltalk; all the GUI stuff will look correct for each machine. Obviously they are looking for
the really big corporate developers who want a program to run on lots of OS's and generate
lots-o-profit from the same kernal of source code.
They have done a similar thing with their Objectworks\C++ development environment, but
this has only been released for Sun-3 and SPARCstations, not for the Mac.
In summary, Smalltalk from ParkPlace is a corporate product. Too bad.

Cheers,
David S. McCormick

MIT-EAPS Geology
Cambridge, MA  02139
dmac@athena.mit.edu
617-253-9852