> > I have always wondered what was going to go in that fourth book.
> > Are you saying that the project was started? (I assumed it was
> > never started.) Do you know any more details?
>
> No... it was essentially just a manuscript stored on one of
> the Smalltalk workstations, and it had been evolving to cover
> the changes in MVC since back when it called the Form-Path-Image
> paradigm. At some point, Stephen T. Pope (I think it was him)
> used it to master MVC, and he then in turn wrote a short paper
> describing the use of MVC. But Adele got distracted with running
> PPS and nver got back to playing author.
>
> I think Steve's paper is available on the web.
Yes, I believe I've seen that. But I've never seen the manuscript.
I thought the book was going to explain how to write programs with MVC
(which I assume means examples). Steve's paper is not that detailed --
I recall it as being only a very good description of MVC, without any
large programming examples.
> > The two-volume _Inside Smalltalk_ set is a decent substitute
> > for the missing book, but the code and the page layout are not up
> > to Xerox' high standards. The text is well-written in some ways
> > but badly written in others.
>
> These books are some of the few ST resources I don't have.
In that case, look at
http://www.powells.com for the information about
Powell's Technical Books and ask if volume 1 is still on the shelf. They
will also start book searches for you for both volumes.
I'm having them search for _Preparation of Programs for an Electronic
Digital Computer_ by Wilkes/Wheeler/Gill.
> A non-commercial version of the current descendent of PPS and ST
> (VisualWorks) can be downloaded and used for free. But Squeak is
> actually much better, IMHO.
Yes, Squeak is a nice piece of work.
Can you tell me a little more about the history of the ST-80 class library
and language? That's one of the two questions I asked Ted Kaehler (along
with "Is the original tape with the test ST-80 images still available?") but
he hasn't answered my e-mail yet.
I specifically want to know how the class library and language evolved after
the licensing (which is about when the Xerox features of Squeak were frozen)
and before the language went commercial. The Purple Book and _Inside
Smalltalk_ mention some features that aren't in Squeak (the simulation
classes, multiple inheritance, and temporary variables inside blocks) but I
was looking for a more detailed list with dates. My ultimate goal would be
to put those features back into Squeak.
Have you ever used any of the Xerox workstations? That's something I always
wanted to try.
-- Derek
Received on Sun Jul 16 2000 - 01:23:07 BST