The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

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The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

horrido
I've launched a PR campaign to promote and advance the use of Smalltalk (and Amber):

http://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/

I am seeking the support of the Smalltalk community.

My intention is to make Smalltalk Renaissance a rallying point around which everyone can gather and contribute to this campaign. Over the coming weeks and months, I shall outline my plan (which is still evolving).

There have been many prior attempts to popularize Smalltalk. None have had any traction. Despite the best efforts of the Smalltalk community, today Smalltalk has become a largely forgotten language. (Smalltalk has fallen off the cliff at the TIOBE index, and it ranks poorly at Redmonk and langpop.corger.nl.) I am trying something different.

Smalltalk Renaissance is a PR campaign. It is trying to market Smalltalk, not on the exclusive basis of technical merit, but also by addressing criticisms and generating excitement about the future of software engineering. It is an ambitious campaign, but in this business, if you don't think big, then don't bother wasting your time.
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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

horrido
Do a search for Smalltalk resources, such as books, videos, tutorials, blogs, etc., and you will face a virtual avalanche of material. This can be overwhelming for Smalltalk newcomers to filter.

Submit your favourite Smalltalk resources and I shall curate them and choose the best ones to place on our Resources page:

http://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/resources/

Thanks.
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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

ccrraaiigg
In reply to this post by horrido

Hoi--

     Who are you? Who is your audience?


     thanks,

-C

--
Craig Latta
netjam.org
+31   6 2757 7177 (SMS ok)
+ 1 415  287 3547 (no SMS)


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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

HilaireFernandes
In reply to this post by horrido
Nice initiative Mr or Mrs Horrido. The more we talk about Smalltalk in
several places the better.

Hilaire

Le 27/12/2014 06:03, horrido a écrit :

> I've launched a PR campaign to promote and advance the use of Smalltalk (and
> Amber):
>
> http://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/
> <http://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/>  
>
> I am seeking the support of the Smalltalk community.
>
> My intention is to make Smalltalk Renaissance /a rallying point/ around
> which everyone can gather and contribute to this campaign. Over the coming
> weeks and months, I shall outline my plan (which is still evolving).
>
> There have been many prior attempts to popularize Smalltalk. None have had
> any traction. Despite the best efforts of the Smalltalk community, today
> Smalltalk has become a largely forgotten language. (Smalltalk has fallen off
> the cliff at the TIOBE index, and it ranks poorly at Redmonk and
> langpop.corger.nl.) /I am trying something different./
>
> Smalltalk Renaissance is a PR campaign. It is trying to /market/ Smalltalk,
> not on the exclusive basis of /technical merit/, but also by addressing
> criticisms and generating excitement about the future of software
> engineering. It is an ambitious campaign, but in this business, if you don't
> think *big*, then don't bother wasting your time.
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112.html
> Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
>


--
Dr. Geo - http://drgeo.eu
iStoa - http://istoa.drgeo.eu


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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

abergel
In reply to this post by horrido
Many languages I have never heard of are listed. What is missing to make Pharo listed here?
Any idea?

Cheers,
Alexandre


> On Dec 27, 2014, at 6:03 AM, horrido <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> I've launched a PR campaign to promote and advance the use of Smalltalk (and
> Amber):
>
> http://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/
> <http://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/>  
>
> I am seeking the support of the Smalltalk community.
>
> My intention is to make Smalltalk Renaissance /a rallying point/ around
> which everyone can gather and contribute to this campaign. Over the coming
> weeks and months, I shall outline my plan (which is still evolving).
>
> There have been many prior attempts to popularize Smalltalk. None have had
> any traction. Despite the best efforts of the Smalltalk community, today
> Smalltalk has become a largely forgotten language. (Smalltalk has fallen off
> the cliff at the TIOBE index, and it ranks poorly at Redmonk and
> langpop.corger.nl.) /I am trying something different./
>
> Smalltalk Renaissance is a PR campaign. It is trying to /market/ Smalltalk,
> not on the exclusive basis of /technical merit/, but also by addressing
> criticisms and generating excitement about the future of software
> engineering. It is an ambitious campaign, but in this business, if you don't
> think *big*, then don't bother wasting your time.
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112.html
> Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>

--
_,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:
Alexandre Bergel  http://www.bergel.eu
^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;.




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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

sebastianconcept@gmail.co
In reply to this post by horrido
And to inspire all, this talk from Bret Victor is addressing the humane aspect in a very effective way
http://vimeo.com/115154289

I have the impression that Smalltalk would score high in a humane medium of expression evaluation

... and if our UI/UX would be seriously improved lead by designers, not engineers, then Smalltalk could skyrocket its score in humane expression of computing.

LISP, and Clojure and Haskell are great but they will always have a high entry barrier due to taste acquisition of algebra as requisite. Smalltalk amazingly, eased that barrier while potentially allowing you the same computing power.

So what if?...

What if we partner with a design university that embraces this spirit (which is very friendly to them but they don't know)?

What I see is that if we do that, we might have a chance to achieve the best path that Bret proposes in his talk.

my 2 cents

from mobile

> On 27/12/2014, at 03:03, horrido <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> I've launched a PR campaign to promote and advance the use of Smalltalk (and
> Amber):
>
> http://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/
> <http://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/>  
>
> I am seeking the support of the Smalltalk community.
>
> My intention is to make Smalltalk Renaissance /a rallying point/ around
> which everyone can gather and contribute to this campaign. Over the coming
> weeks and months, I shall outline my plan (which is still evolving).
>
> There have been many prior attempts to popularize Smalltalk. None have had
> any traction. Despite the best efforts of the Smalltalk community, today
> Smalltalk has become a largely forgotten language. (Smalltalk has fallen off
> the cliff at the TIOBE index, and it ranks poorly at Redmonk and
> langpop.corger.nl.) /I am trying something different./
>
> Smalltalk Renaissance is a PR campaign. It is trying to /market/ Smalltalk,
> not on the exclusive basis of /technical merit/, but also by addressing
> criticisms and generating excitement about the future of software
> engineering. It is an ambitious campaign, but in this business, if you don't
> think *big*, then don't bother wasting your time.
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112.html
> Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>

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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

S Krish
In reply to this post by horrido

What about joining up with Smalltalk Foundation , STIC and ESUG ..

Though laudable an initiative in whatever form you launch it.  Just may give it a better thrust if there is joining of hands. Smalltalk has not in the past gained with multiple directions / efforts. Pull all efforts in as much as possible single basket.

Thanks and best wishes in the endeavour.


On Sat, Dec 27, 2014 at 11:08 AM, horrido <[hidden email]> wrote:
Do a search for Smalltalk resources, such as books, videos, tutorials, blogs,
etc., and you will face a virtual avalanche of material. This can be
overwhelming for Smalltalk newcomers to filter.

Submit your favourite Smalltalk resources and I shall curate them and choose
the best ones to place on our Resources page:

http://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/resources/
<http://smalltalkrenaissance.wordpress.com/resources/>

Thanks.



--
View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112p4797114.html
Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.


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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

horrido
In reply to this post by ccrraaiigg
My name is Richard Eng and I'm a retired software engineer. I've been in IT for over 30 years. I've worked with FORTRAN, Tandem TAL, C/C++/C#/Objective-C, Java, Python, and Smalltalk in a variety of different problem domains ranging from real-time and telecommunications to database and financial to video graphics. I was Project Team Leader of the NT Driver Group at ATI Technologies (now AMD).

I'm also a burgeoning writer. You can see my portfolio here at Medium.com. Pay particular attention to the articles on Go web frameworks, Beego tutorial, web2py, programming languages, and the future of Dart which have garnered the most readership.

I wrote an "advanced" tutorial for Go and Beego in order to help boost Beego's profile: "A Word from The Beegoist". I am currently working on a similar article to help boost Amber's profile.

My audience is anyone and everyone who is, or might be, interested in Smalltalk. This includes decision makers from the enterprise and IT journalists and software developers who are stuck in the Stone Age of file-based, emacs-based programming.
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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

horrido
In reply to this post by abergel
Pharo is mentioned prominently at Smalltalk Renaissance. However, I do not want to give the impression that Smalltalk Renaissance is only about "selling" one particular implementation to the public.
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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

horrido
In reply to this post by S Krish
As I said, Smalltalk Renaissance is a rallying point for every fan of the language. However, coordinating with disparate groups would diffuse my time and energy. I believe it's better to have a fresh start that everybody can participate in and contribute to. As curator and editor of Smalltalk Renaissance, I can pick from the best and keep the campaign more focussed. There is so much "stuff" in the Smalltalk landscape that it's overwhelming and confusing to newcomers. It made my head spin, which is what inspired me to start this endeavour. As I mentioned, I want to try something new and different. Past efforts failed and they have a kind of "staleness" to them. I want to jettison all unnecessary baggage.
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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

sebastianconcept@gmail.co
So the idea is to be a rallying point for every Smalltalk fan with a bias towards presenting a map to newcomers

What do you think that would make a good map?



On Dec 27, 2014, at 12:00 PM, horrido <[hidden email]> wrote:

As I said, Smalltalk Renaissance is a rallying point for every fan of the
language. However, coordinating with disparate groups would diffuse my time
and energy. I believe it's better to have a fresh start that everybody can
participate in and contribute to. As curator and editor of Smalltalk
Renaissance, I can pick from the best and keep the campaign more focussed.
There is so much "stuff" in the Smalltalk landscape that it's overwhelming
and confusing to newcomers. *It made my head spin, which is what inspired me
to start this endeavour.* As I mentioned, I want to try something new and
different. Past efforts failed and they have a kind of "staleness" to them.
I want to jettison all unnecessary baggage.



--
View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112p4797142.html
Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.


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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

horrido
In reply to this post by sebastianconcept@gmail.co
Bret Victor's talk is certainly interesting. This got me thinking...

What we need is a modern-day PARC with a next generation of visionaries to advance Smalltalk. They would carry on the work that was begun four decades ago.

Here's the thing:  The Smalltalk environment has not fundamentally changed or improved since the Xerox PARC days. We've been tweaking the design here and there, but nothing groundbreaking has happened.

Is the current Smalltalk environment the final word on the nature of dynamic programming and humane representation of thought? I seriously doubt it.

Who are the visionaries that will shake things up? How do we find them?

Let's face it:  We've all become rather complacent. (With the exception of Newspeak, which frankly doesn't impress me much. We don't need a new language!)

This is something Smalltalk Renaissance should think about.
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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

sebastianconcept@gmail.co
Completely agree Richard.

In this talk Alan Kay address that point:

The Future Doesn't Have to Be Incremental

Even if we have the visionaries, as in that talk is explained, you need funding to get them working on the vision.

I don’t know if our community has enough millionaires to make that happen, so far doesn’t look like it.

Or.. we didn’t explore that path well enough


On Dec 28, 2014, at 10:36 PM, horrido <[hidden email]> wrote:

Bret Victor's talk is certainly interesting. This got me thinking...

What we need is a modern-day PARC with a /next generation/ of visionaries to
advance Smalltalk. They would carry on the work that was begun four decades
ago.

Here's the thing:  The Smalltalk environment has not fundamentally changed
or improved since the Xerox PARC days. We've been tweaking the design here
and there, but nothing groundbreaking has happened.

Is the current Smalltalk environment the /final word/ on the nature of
dynamic programming and humane representation of thought? I seriously doubt
it.

Who are the visionaries that will shake things up? How do we find them?

Let's face it:  We've all become rather complacent. (With the exception of
Newspeak, which frankly doesn't impress me much. *We don't need a new
language!*)

This is something Smalltalk Renaissance should think about.



--
View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112p4797243.html
Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.


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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

S Krish
In reply to this post by horrido
Inlined notes

I agree nothing earth shaking is happening in Smalltalk in just the 6 months, but over the last 4 yrs it is a quite a shift in Pharo. Hats off to all active contributers.

I quite disagree... on the fact nothing is happening. While all intellectually inclined love the idea of creating anew something ground breaking, it is in current decade more important to ensure we create relevant technology not just for the sake of claiming high ground.

Wolfram , Google, FB may be creating their islands of tech bubbles and that may take the world too, but they have the billions I guess to afford.


On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 6:06 AM, horrido <[hidden email]> wrote:
Bret Victor's talk is certainly interesting. This got me thinking...

What we need is a modern-day PARC with a /next generation/ of visionaries to
advance Smalltalk. They would carry on the work that was begun four decades
ago.

Here's the thing:  The Smalltalk environment has not fundamentally changed
or improved since the Xerox PARC days. We've been tweaking the design here
and there, but nothing groundbreaking has happened.

Is the current Smalltalk environment the /final word/ on the nature of
dynamic programming and humane representation of thought? I seriously doubt
it.

Who are the visionaries that will shake things up? How do we find them?

    Stephane Ducasse and team are visionaries in as much as Pharo is shaking things up on Smalltalk world .
    Lots of new things have already been charted out, of course the tough grind of actually cleaning and providing a meaningful free Smalltalk environment for the enterprise world is a gargantuan task and I see it as being reached gradually in Pharo. That will itself be etched in history 10 yrs later as a great achievement.

Let's face it:  We've all become rather complacent. (With the exception of
Newspeak, which frankly doesn't impress me much. *We don't need a new
language!*)

    For four years I have seen the kind of energy/ enthusiasm unmatched in the last decade or more in Pharo resurgence. Free Enterprise Smalltalk, is about arriving in the IT industry.. just some honchos need to weave it in.
 
This is something Smalltalk Renaissance should think about.

Much said and done in Pharo, there is nothing stopping any group in creating something more powerful / relevant and leave the footprints in the sands of time more firmly etched. I agree again there is lot of scope provided that group does it..

--
View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112p4797243.html
Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.


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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

stepharo
In reply to this post by horrido
Guys

you make me laugh.
We built pharo to reinvent smalltalk (Since day one) and many people
shout and cry because we do not want to say that this is a smalltalk and
because it is not compatible.

Now suddenly you show up (we pushed ESUG since 15 years BTW) telling us
that we should all aggregate under the renaissance program (without
really knowing what we are deeply doing) and now you criticize that
nobody on Smalltalk is doing innovation.

So let me tell you this:
     - adhesion and trust is based on actions in open-source world (So
the ball is in your camp).
     - if I would have got the money that alan got for his projects,
Pharo would not be like
     it is now but way better. There is a pharo roadmap (you may find it
interesting) and we are steadily addressing it. We should write the new
version of the Pharo vision.
     - Pharo is not Smalltalk and we are doing it our way. We want to
make sure that
     people can get a living building applications with Pharo.
     - We are not just creating a language. We are creating an ecosystem
with companies and universities.

Here my piece of advices:
     - doing takes a lot more energy than talking, so think in terms of
milestones:
     "what should I do if I do not get the energy to push it during years?"

     - there are plenty of ways to help but you have to decide. What you
want to do.
             -- reading books
             -- writing tutorials
             -- blogging (but I agree I always pay attention about what
I blog/twit)
             -- develop libraries

Stef



Le 29/12/14 01:36, horrido a écrit :

> Bret Victor's talk is certainly interesting. This got me thinking...
>
> What we need is a modern-day PARC with a /next generation/ of visionaries to
> advance Smalltalk. They would carry on the work that was begun four decades
> ago.
>
> Here's the thing:  The Smalltalk environment has not fundamentally changed
> or improved since the Xerox PARC days. We've been tweaking the design here
> and there, but nothing groundbreaking has happened.
>
> Is the current Smalltalk environment the /final word/ on the nature of
> dynamic programming and humane representation of thought? I seriously doubt
> it.
>
> Who are the visionaries that will shake things up? How do we find them?
>
> Let's face it:  We've all become rather complacent. (With the exception of
> Newspeak, which frankly doesn't impress me much. *We don't need a new
> language!*)
>
> This is something Smalltalk Renaissance should think about.
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112p4797243.html
> Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
>


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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

horrido
From "The City on the Edge of Forever":

KIRK: Then what is it?
GUARDIAN: A question. Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question.
KIRK: What are you?
GUARDIAN: I am the Guardian of Forever.
KIRK: Are you machine or being?
GUARDIAN: I am both and neither. I am my own beginning, my own ending.

-----

Clearly, I need to explain myself in greater detail...

The efforts of organizations such as STIC and ESUG are laudable. Nevertheless, they have failed to popularize Smalltalk. Today, Smalltalk is a largely forgotten language. This can be seen at the TIOBE index where Smalltalk has literally fallen off a cliff (it used to be on the top 100 list, but has since disappeared). At Redmonk and langpop.corger.nl, Smalltalk is somewhere around the 65th position!

Smalltalk does not get much developer attention. It doesn't get talked about in the press like Dart and JavaScript and Java do. The language is almost never on the minds of CEOs and CTOs, the business decision makers. I believe I know why.

Smalltalk organizations have focussed too much on technical merit, and not enough on PR and marketing. Understandable, since engineers are technically-minded and not so much into human behaviour. I think we need to treat developers and businessmen like consumers. We need to sell Smalltalk to them in the same way we sell iPhones and PlayStations. In other words, we need to build hype.

Let's face it: at the best of times, the subject of Smalltalk is rather staid. STIC and ESUG and the Smalltalk Foundation are not likely to change this. I want Smalltalk Renaissance to change this.

The Smalltalk Renaissance Program is a highly focussed campaign. Like the language itself, I want to Keep It Simple. (That's why I'm trying to keep the website clean and free of excess baggage.)

The SRP cannot succeed without your involvement, your participation. I am not much more than the curator and editor for Smalltalk Renaissance, although I'm also formulating the short-term and long-term strategy. (You can call me "Generalissimo" Eng.  ;-) )

One of the things I intend to do is ask members of the Smalltalk community to submit fresh essays and articles on Smalltalk. I have a list of essay topics prepared, carefully chosen for their relevance and impact on the future of Smalltalk. I shall be asking people to pick a topic and run with it. If there are multiple submissions for a particular topic, I shall choose the best one, edit it, and post it on Smalltalk Renaissance. I guarantee you will look good!

Make no mistake, this is a critical step. These essays will address the concerns of non-Smalltalk developers. You need to make compelling arguments.

Then we promote these articles and essays on Reddit and Hacker News and so on.

In the near future, I will also submit Smalltalk articles to the IT press, such as Wired and InfoWorld. These articles may well benefit from your contributions.

Another important piece of the strategy is to obtain corporate sponsorship. If not for Apple, the Swift language would never have gotten so much mindshare. If not for Google, Go would've failed to gain a significant following. If not for Microsoft, C# would've been forgotten. In today's highly competitive programming language field, if you don't have a big name backer, you're already behind the eight ball. Grass roots are unlikely to succeed.

Getting the imprimatur of a major technology company is a PR coup of inestimable value. But it's also vital for another reason. In the longer term, I want to launch software projects that improve on the Smalltalk technology. Projects such as extending the tooling around the Smalltalk environment (which has been criticized for not playing well with existing file-based tooling). Projects such as improving interoperability with existing (Windows-based) infrastructures in the enterprise (which has been a source of criticism from the likes of Robert Martin). These projects must be financed because open source volunteerism isn't enough, not by a long shot. And this is why we need corporate sponsorship.

Before I make a pitch to a CEO, Smalltalk Renaissance must achieve some degree of legitimacy. It can do this by signing up well-known names from the Smalltalk community. Names such as the late James Robertson or Stéphane Ducasse. I already have a draft letter prepared for an important CEO. I'm only waiting for a list of SRP signatories before firing off the letter. (Hint, hint.)

This is what I've come up with so far in my strategic planning. It's a work-in-progress.

As for Pharo, I've downloaded it and played with it briefly. As far as I can tell, the IDE is not much different from Squeak. Like I said, the design has been tweaked and improved, but I don't see anything groundbreaking. Maybe you and I have different ideas of what "groundbreaking" means.

Nevertheless, as another poster indicated, we can leave this for the future. For the time being, we need to make Smalltalk, and Pharo in particular, more attractive to the Enterprise. I'm sure Pharo is doing this. Kudos.
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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

abergel
There is something that I cannot understand: What is the goal of pushing Smalltalk that way? I am certainly not trying to do so.

In the way I see the World, Pharo is not Smalltalk, but inspired by Smalltalk. Actually, I would be tempted to say slightly inspired by Smalltalk as Pharo is taking a different path.

Having Smalltalk low on the ranking does not bother me much. Having Pharo listed would be great although.

Cheers,
Alexandre


> On Dec 29, 2014, at 8:40 PM, horrido <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> From "The City on the Edge of Forever":
>
> KIRK: Then what is it?
> GUARDIAN: *A question.* Since before your sun burned hot in space and before
> your race was born, I have awaited a question.
> KIRK: What are you?
> GUARDIAN: I am the Guardian of Forever.
> KIRK: Are you machine or being?
> GUARDIAN: I am both and neither. I am my own beginning, my own ending.
>
> -----
>
> Clearly, I need to explain myself in greater detail...
>
> The efforts of organizations such as STIC and ESUG are laudable.
> Nevertheless, they have failed to popularize Smalltalk. Today, *Smalltalk is
> a largely forgotten language*. This can be seen at the TIOBE index where
> Smalltalk has literally fallen off a cliff (it used to be on the top 100
> list, but has since disappeared). At Redmonk and langpop.corger.nl,
> Smalltalk is somewhere around the 65th position!
>
> Smalltalk does not get much developer attention. It doesn't get talked about
> in the press like Dart and JavaScript and Java do. The language is almost
> never on the minds of CEOs and CTOs, the business decision makers. I believe
> I know why.
>
> Smalltalk organizations have focussed too much on /technical merit/, and not
> enough on PR and marketing. Understandable, since engineers are
> /technically-minded/ and not so much into human behaviour. I think we need
> to treat developers and businessmen like consumers. We need to sell
> Smalltalk to them in the same way we sell iPhones and PlayStations. In other
> words, we need to build /hype/.
>
> Let's face it: at the best of times, the subject of Smalltalk is rather
> staid. STIC and ESUG and the Smalltalk Foundation are not likely to change
> this. *I want Smalltalk Renaissance to change this.*
>
> The Smalltalk Renaissance Program is a highly focussed campaign. Like the
> language itself, I want to Keep It Simple. (That's why I'm trying to keep
> the website clean and free of excess baggage.)
>
> The SRP cannot succeed without /your/ involvement, your participation. I am
> not much more than the curator and editor for Smalltalk Renaissance,
> although I'm also formulating the short-term and long-term strategy. (You
> can call me "Generalissimo" Eng.  ;-) )
>
> One of the things I intend to do is ask members of the Smalltalk community
> to submit /fresh/ essays and articles on Smalltalk. I have a list of essay
> topics prepared, carefully chosen for their relevance and impact on the
> future of Smalltalk. I shall be asking people to pick a topic and run with
> it. If there are multiple submissions for a particular topic, I shall choose
> the best one, edit it, and post it on Smalltalk Renaissance. *I guarantee
> you will look good!*
>
> Make no mistake, this is a critical step. *These essays will address the
> concerns of non-Smalltalk developers.* You need to make compelling
> arguments.
>
> Then we promote these articles and essays on Reddit and Hacker News and so
> on.
>
> In the near future, I will also submit Smalltalk articles to the IT press,
> such as Wired and InfoWorld. These articles may well benefit from /your
> contributions/.
>
> Another important piece of the strategy is to obtain corporate sponsorship.
> If not for Apple, the Swift language would never have gotten so much
> mindshare. If not for Google, Go would've failed to gain a significant
> following. If not for Microsoft, C# would've been forgotten. In today's
> highly competitive programming language field, if you don't have a big name
> backer, you're already behind the eight ball. Grass roots are unlikely to
> succeed.
>
> Getting the imprimatur of a major technology company is a PR coup of
> inestimable value. But it's also vital for another reason. In the longer
> term, I want to launch software projects that improve on the Smalltalk
> technology. Projects such as extending the tooling around the Smalltalk
> environment (which has been criticized for not playing well with existing
> file-based tooling). Projects such as improving interoperability with
> existing (Windows-based) infrastructures in the enterprise (which has been a
> source of criticism from the likes of Robert Martin). These projects must be
> financed because open source volunteerism isn't enough, not by a long shot.
> And this is why we need corporate sponsorship.
>
> Before I make a pitch to a CEO, Smalltalk Renaissance must achieve some
> degree of legitimacy. It can do this by signing up well-known names from the
> Smalltalk community. Names such as the late James Robertson or Stéphane
> Ducasse. I already have a draft letter prepared for an important CEO. I'm
> only waiting for a list of SRP signatories before firing off the letter.
> (Hint, hint.)
>
> This is what I've come up with so far in my strategic planning. It's a
> work-in-progress.
>
> As for Pharo, I've downloaded it and played with it briefly. As far as I can
> tell, the IDE is not much different from Squeak. Like I said, the design has
> been tweaked and improved, but I don't see anything groundbreaking. Maybe
> you and I have different ideas of what "groundbreaking" means.
>
> Nevertheless, as another poster indicated, we can leave this for the future.
> For the time being, we need to make Smalltalk, and Pharo in particular, more
> attractive to the Enterprise. I'm sure Pharo is doing this. Kudos.
>
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112p4797313.html
> Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>

--
_,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:
Alexandre Bergel  http://www.bergel.eu
^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;.




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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

stepharo
In reply to this post by horrido

Le 29/12/14 20:40, horrido a écrit :

> >From "The City on the Edge of Forever":
>
> KIRK: Then what is it?
> GUARDIAN: *A question.* Since before your sun burned hot in space and before
> your race was born, I have awaited a question.
> KIRK: What are you?
> GUARDIAN: I am the Guardian of Forever.
> KIRK: Are you machine or being?
> GUARDIAN: I am both and neither. I am my own beginning, my own ending.
>
> -----
>
> Clearly, I need to explain myself in greater detail...
>
> The efforts of organizations such as STIC and ESUG are laudable.
> Nevertheless, they have failed to popularize Smalltalk. Today, *Smalltalk is
> a largely forgotten language*. This can be seen at the TIOBE index where
> Smalltalk has literally fallen off a cliff (it used to be on the top 100
> list, but has since disappeared). At Redmonk and langpop.corger.nl,
> Smalltalk is somewhere around the 65th position!

So Smalltalk is dead and Pharo alive and kicking. No?

>
> Smalltalk does not get much developer attention. It doesn't get talked about
> in the press like Dart and JavaScript and Java do. The language is almost
> never on the minds of CEOs and CTOs, the business decision makers. I believe
> I know why.
>
> Smalltalk organizations have focussed too much on /technical merit/, and not
> enough on PR and marketing.

On making money too.

> Understandable, since engineers are
> /technically-minded/ and not so much into human behaviour. I think we need
> to treat developers and businessmen like consumers. We need to sell
> Smalltalk to them in the same way we sell iPhones and PlayStations. In other
> words, we need to build /hype/.

We market Pharo as a new language because Pharo is cool and we do not
have to
carry with us the "old" aspects and fight against the museum syndrom.
You can give a try
we would prefer to market Pharo as Pharo.
>
> Let's face it: at the best of times, the subject of Smalltalk is rather
> staid. STIC and ESUG and the Smalltalk Foundation are not likely to change
> this. *I want Smalltalk Renaissance to change this.*

ESUG is about the community. Without community then it is terrible.
We set up also a program for teachers. Now in the US there is nearly
nobody teaching smalltalk and this is a pity.

> The Smalltalk Renaissance Program is a highly focussed campaign. Like the
> language itself, I want to Keep It Simple. (That's why I'm trying to keep
> the website clean and free of excess baggage.)
>
> The SRP cannot succeed without /your/ involvement, your participation. I am
> not much more than the curator and editor for Smalltalk Renaissance,
> although I'm also formulating the short-term and long-term strategy. (You
> can call me "Generalissimo" Eng.  ;-) )
>
> One of the things I intend to do is ask members of the Smalltalk community
> to submit /fresh/ essays and articles on Smalltalk. I have a list of essay
> topics prepared, carefully chosen for their relevance and impact on the
> future of Smalltalk. I shall be asking people to pick a topic and run with
> it. If there are multiple submissions for a particular topic, I shall choose
> the best one, edit it, and post it on Smalltalk Renaissance. *I guarantee
> you will look good!*
>
> Make no mistake, this is a critical step. *These essays will address the
> concerns of non-Smalltalk developers.* You need to make compelling
> arguments.
>
> Then we promote these articles and essays on Reddit and Hacker News and so
> on.
>
> In the near future, I will also submit Smalltalk articles to the IT press,
> such as Wired and InfoWorld. These articles may well benefit from /your
> contributions/.
>
> Another important piece of the strategy is to obtain corporate sponsorship.
> If not for Apple, the Swift language would never have gotten so much
> mindshare. If not for Google, Go would've failed to gain a significant
> following. If not for Microsoft, C# would've been forgotten. In today's
> highly competitive programming language field, if you don't have a big name
> backer, you're already behind the eight ball. Grass roots are unlikely to
> succeed.
>
> Getting the imprimatur of a major technology company is a PR coup of
> inestimable value. But it's also vital for another reason. In the longer
> term, I want to launch software projects that improve on the Smalltalk
> technology. Projects such as extending the tooling around the Smalltalk
> environment (which has been criticized for not playing well with existing
> file-based tooling). Projects such as improving interoperability with
> existing (Windows-based) infrastructures in the enterprise (which has been a
> source of criticism from the likes of Robert Martin). These projects must be
> financed because open source volunteerism isn't enough, not by a long shot.
> And this is why we need corporate sponsorship.
>
> Before I make a pitch to a CEO, Smalltalk Renaissance must achieve some
> degree of legitimacy. It can do this by signing up well-known names from the
> Smalltalk community. Names such as the late James Robertson or Stéphane
> Ducasse. I already have a draft letter prepared for an important CEO. I'm
> only waiting for a list of SRP signatories before firing off the letter.
> (Hint, hint.)
>
> This is what I've come up with so far in my strategic planning. It's a
> work-in-progress.
>
> As for Pharo, I've downloaded it and played with it briefly. As far as I can
> tell, the IDE is not much different from Squeak. Like I said, the design has
> been tweaked and improved, but I don't see anything groundbreaking. Maybe
> you and I have different ideas of what "groundbreaking" means.
No but roma has not been done in a week.
>
> Nevertheless, as another poster indicated, we can leave this for the future.
> For the time being, we need to make Smalltalk, and Pharo in particular, more
> attractive to the Enterprise. I'm sure Pharo is doing this. Kudos.





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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

sebastianconcept@gmail.co
In reply to this post by horrido
I’m a Smalltalker that is happy when JavaScript and LISP and Phyton and Ruby and Dart gain popularity because it makes my life easier when I have to explain to the next dynamic friendly developer how our workspace, inspector and debugger works and how our library gets navigated so the new guy can fell he can master it by himself easier than other tools (which is a Smalltalk language design intention from day zero, and totally successful at it BTW).

I can understand that some might feel indifferent at Scala or Java popularity but being "a Pharoer” and hostile, antagonising or actively indifferent to Smalltalk's popularity and branding efforts is a frank strategic parricide





On Dec 29, 2014, at 5:40 PM, horrido <[hidden email]> wrote:

From "The City on the Edge of Forever":

KIRK: Then what is it?
GUARDIAN: *A question.* Since before your sun burned hot in space and before
your race was born, I have awaited a question.
KIRK: What are you?
GUARDIAN: I am the Guardian of Forever.
KIRK: Are you machine or being?
GUARDIAN: I am both and neither. I am my own beginning, my own ending.

-----

Clearly, I need to explain myself in greater detail...

The efforts of organizations such as STIC and ESUG are laudable.
Nevertheless, they have failed to popularize Smalltalk. Today, *Smalltalk is
a largely forgotten language*. This can be seen at the TIOBE index where
Smalltalk has literally fallen off a cliff (it used to be on the top 100
list, but has since disappeared). At Redmonk and langpop.corger.nl,
Smalltalk is somewhere around the 65th position!

Smalltalk does not get much developer attention. It doesn't get talked about
in the press like Dart and JavaScript and Java do. The language is almost
never on the minds of CEOs and CTOs, the business decision makers. I believe
I know why.

Smalltalk organizations have focussed too much on /technical merit/, and not
enough on PR and marketing. Understandable, since engineers are
/technically-minded/ and not so much into human behaviour. I think we need
to treat developers and businessmen like consumers. We need to sell
Smalltalk to them in the same way we sell iPhones and PlayStations. In other
words, we need to build /hype/.

Let's face it: at the best of times, the subject of Smalltalk is rather
staid. STIC and ESUG and the Smalltalk Foundation are not likely to change
this. *I want Smalltalk Renaissance to change this.*

The Smalltalk Renaissance Program is a highly focussed campaign. Like the
language itself, I want to Keep It Simple. (That's why I'm trying to keep
the website clean and free of excess baggage.)

The SRP cannot succeed without /your/ involvement, your participation. I am
not much more than the curator and editor for Smalltalk Renaissance,
although I'm also formulating the short-term and long-term strategy. (You
can call me "Generalissimo" Eng.  ;-) )

One of the things I intend to do is ask members of the Smalltalk community
to submit /fresh/ essays and articles on Smalltalk. I have a list of essay
topics prepared, carefully chosen for their relevance and impact on the
future of Smalltalk. I shall be asking people to pick a topic and run with
it. If there are multiple submissions for a particular topic, I shall choose
the best one, edit it, and post it on Smalltalk Renaissance. *I guarantee
you will look good!*

Make no mistake, this is a critical step. *These essays will address the
concerns of non-Smalltalk developers.* You need to make compelling
arguments.

Then we promote these articles and essays on Reddit and Hacker News and so
on.

In the near future, I will also submit Smalltalk articles to the IT press,
such as Wired and InfoWorld. These articles may well benefit from /your
contributions/.

Another important piece of the strategy is to obtain corporate sponsorship.
If not for Apple, the Swift language would never have gotten so much
mindshare. If not for Google, Go would've failed to gain a significant
following. If not for Microsoft, C# would've been forgotten. In today's
highly competitive programming language field, if you don't have a big name
backer, you're already behind the eight ball. Grass roots are unlikely to
succeed.

Getting the imprimatur of a major technology company is a PR coup of
inestimable value. But it's also vital for another reason. In the longer
term, I want to launch software projects that improve on the Smalltalk
technology. Projects such as extending the tooling around the Smalltalk
environment (which has been criticized for not playing well with existing
file-based tooling). Projects such as improving interoperability with
existing (Windows-based) infrastructures in the enterprise (which has been a
source of criticism from the likes of Robert Martin). These projects must be
financed because open source volunteerism isn't enough, not by a long shot.
And this is why we need corporate sponsorship.

Before I make a pitch to a CEO, Smalltalk Renaissance must achieve some
degree of legitimacy. It can do this by signing up well-known names from the
Smalltalk community. Names such as the late James Robertson or Stéphane
Ducasse. I already have a draft letter prepared for an important CEO. I'm
only waiting for a list of SRP signatories before firing off the letter.
(Hint, hint.)

This is what I've come up with so far in my strategic planning. It's a
work-in-progress.

As for Pharo, I've downloaded it and played with it briefly. As far as I can
tell, the IDE is not much different from Squeak. Like I said, the design has
been tweaked and improved, but I don't see anything groundbreaking. Maybe
you and I have different ideas of what "groundbreaking" means.

Nevertheless, as another poster indicated, we can leave this for the future.
For the time being, we need to make Smalltalk, and Pharo in particular, more
attractive to the Enterprise. I'm sure Pharo is doing this. Kudos.




--
View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112p4797313.html
Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.


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Re: The Smalltalk Renaissance Program

philippeback


Le 30 déc. 2014 00:23, "Sebastian Sastre" <[hidden email]> a écrit :
>
> I’m a Smalltalker that is happy when JavaScript and LISP and Phyton and Ruby and Dart gain popularity because it makes my life easier when I have to explain to the next dynamic friendly developer how our workspace, inspector and debugger works and how our library gets navigated so the new guy can fell he can master it by himself easier than other tools (which is a Smalltalk language design intention from day zero, and totally successful at it BTW).
>
> I can understand that some might feel indifferent at Scala or Java popularity but being "a Pharoer” and hostile, antagonising or actively indifferent to Smalltalk's popularity and branding efforts is a frank strategic parricide

And so we entered the land of Zealots of True Faith (tm).

PR is useful. But patronizing what is and what is not leaves me cold.

Phil
>
>
>
>
>
>> On Dec 29, 2014, at 5:40 PM, horrido <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> From "The City on the Edge of Forever":
>>
>> KIRK: Then what is it?
>> GUARDIAN: *A question.* Since before your sun burned hot in space and before
>> your race was born, I have awaited a question.
>> KIRK: What are you?
>> GUARDIAN: I am the Guardian of Forever.
>> KIRK: Are you machine or being?
>> GUARDIAN: I am both and neither. I am my own beginning, my own ending.
>>
>> -----
>>
>> Clearly, I need to explain myself in greater detail...
>>
>> The efforts of organizations such as STIC and ESUG are laudable.
>> Nevertheless, they have failed to popularize Smalltalk. Today, *Smalltalk is
>> a largely forgotten language*. This can be seen at the TIOBE index where
>> Smalltalk has literally fallen off a cliff (it used to be on the top 100
>> list, but has since disappeared). At Redmonk and langpop.corger.nl,
>> Smalltalk is somewhere around the 65th position!
>>
>> Smalltalk does not get much developer attention. It doesn't get talked about
>> in the press like Dart and JavaScript and Java do. The language is almost
>> never on the minds of CEOs and CTOs, the business decision makers. I believe
>> I know why.
>>
>> Smalltalk organizations have focussed too much on /technical merit/, and not
>> enough on PR and marketing. Understandable, since engineers are
>> /technically-minded/ and not so much into human behaviour. I think we need
>> to treat developers and businessmen like consumers. We need to sell
>> Smalltalk to them in the same way we sell iPhones and PlayStations. In other
>> words, we need to build /hype/.
>>
>> Let's face it: at the best of times, the subject of Smalltalk is rather
>> staid. STIC and ESUG and the Smalltalk Foundation are not likely to change
>> this. *I want Smalltalk Renaissance to change this.*
>>
>> The Smalltalk Renaissance Program is a highly focussed campaign. Like the
>> language itself, I want to Keep It Simple. (That's why I'm trying to keep
>> the website clean and free of excess baggage.)
>>
>> The SRP cannot succeed without /your/ involvement, your participation. I am
>> not much more than the curator and editor for Smalltalk Renaissance,
>> although I'm also formulating the short-term and long-term strategy. (You
>> can call me "Generalissimo" Eng.  ;-) )
>>
>> One of the things I intend to do is ask members of the Smalltalk community
>> to submit /fresh/ essays and articles on Smalltalk. I have a list of essay
>> topics prepared, carefully chosen for their relevance and impact on the
>> future of Smalltalk. I shall be asking people to pick a topic and run with
>> it. If there are multiple submissions for a particular topic, I shall choose
>> the best one, edit it, and post it on Smalltalk Renaissance. *I guarantee
>> you will look good!*
>>
>> Make no mistake, this is a critical step. *These essays will address the
>> concerns of non-Smalltalk developers.* You need to make compelling
>> arguments.
>>
>> Then we promote these articles and essays on Reddit and Hacker News and so
>> on.
>>
>> In the near future, I will also submit Smalltalk articles to the IT press,
>> such as Wired and InfoWorld. These articles may well benefit from /your
>> contributions/.
>>
>> Another important piece of the strategy is to obtain corporate sponsorship.
>> If not for Apple, the Swift language would never have gotten so much
>> mindshare. If not for Google, Go would've failed to gain a significant
>> following. If not for Microsoft, C# would've been forgotten. In today's
>> highly competitive programming language field, if you don't have a big name
>> backer, you're already behind the eight ball. Grass roots are unlikely to
>> succeed.
>>
>> Getting the imprimatur of a major technology company is a PR coup of
>> inestimable value. But it's also vital for another reason. In the longer
>> term, I want to launch software projects that improve on the Smalltalk
>> technology. Projects such as extending the tooling around the Smalltalk
>> environment (which has been criticized for not playing well with existing
>> file-based tooling). Projects such as improving interoperability with
>> existing (Windows-based) infrastructures in the enterprise (which has been a
>> source of criticism from the likes of Robert Martin). These projects must be
>> financed because open source volunteerism isn't enough, not by a long shot.
>> And this is why we need corporate sponsorship.
>>
>> Before I make a pitch to a CEO, Smalltalk Renaissance must achieve some
>> degree of legitimacy. It can do this by signing up well-known names from the
>> Smalltalk community. Names such as the late James Robertson or Stéphane
>> Ducasse. I already have a draft letter prepared for an important CEO. I'm
>> only waiting for a list of SRP signatories before firing off the letter.
>> (Hint, hint.)
>>
>> This is what I've come up with so far in my strategic planning. It's a
>> work-in-progress.
>>
>> As for Pharo, I've downloaded it and played with it briefly. As far as I can
>> tell, the IDE is not much different from Squeak. Like I said, the design has
>> been tweaked and improved, but I don't see anything groundbreaking. Maybe
>> you and I have different ideas of what "groundbreaking" means.
>>
>> Nevertheless, as another poster indicated, we can leave this for the future.
>> For the time being, we need to make Smalltalk, and Pharo in particular, more
>> attractive to the Enterprise. I'm sure Pharo is doing this. Kudos.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/The-Smalltalk-Renaissance-Program-tp4797112p4797313.html
>> Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Developers mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>>
>

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