Totally dumbfounded!!

David and everyone else,

Thanks for your input.

I won't get on my soapbox here and debate whether Smalltalk/Squeak is  
suitable for anything. I'm just trying to find out about the language  
and perhaps come to understand the OO paradigm. Some of you have  
directed me to Squeak By Example (SBE) which I briefly looked at and  
it really seems like a good beginners book.

It seems to me though that even though in smalltalk/squeak it is  
possible to read all the code in the system, it is still a very poor  
and inefficient way of learning about any of the class libraries in  
Smalltalk. After looking up some of the code, I find I end up more  
confused than when I started.

SBE has a few pages on Morphic but the class library for smalltalk  
seems huge for a beginner like me. For example, after trying to look  
at the Graphics classes, there may be many ways to instantiate an  
object (I might be wrong, in that case I take back everything I have  
to say on the subject!!). No one really has the time to go through  
every method to find out which is suitable and even then the  
commentary is not always very good. Some of the methods do not appear  
to do anything useful (if I may say so) because they depend on the  
support provided by a whole series of other methods (and even classes)  
and states of variables. In the end I might still not have learnt how  
the whole thing works! So my question is, is there any documentation  
on the complete class library for Squeak written in a more accessible  
style for the uninitiated?

Some of you might say that I should study Squeak more before  
commenting. I guess I am trying to pre-empt things so that I don't go  
down a path which eventually will lead me to too many dead ends.

Again thanks for all your comments and your interest in helping  
someone out.

Stephen
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*snip*

> It seems to me though that even though in smalltalk/squeak it is  
> possible to read all the code in the system, it is still a very poor  
> and inefficient way of learning about any of the class libraries in  
> Smalltalk. After looking up some of the code, I find I end up more  
> confused than when I started.

It depends. One way to look at it is to see that looking at the code
helps you not to be confused my faulty or missing documentation.
Also, do not mix up Squeak with Smalltalk. There are other Smalltalk
dialects which are much better documented.

> SBE has a few pages on Morphic but the class library for smalltalk  
> seems huge for a beginner like me.

I think the GUI part of Squeak is not documented very well, period.

>For example, after trying to look  at
> the Graphics classes, there may be many ways to instantiate an  object
> (I might be wrong, in that case I take back everything I have  to say on
> the subject!!).

There probably are.

>No one really has the time to go through  every method
> to find out which is suitable and even then the  commentary is not
> always very good.

What else can you do? Even for Java, you have to go through all the
Javadocs, first to find which Class suits your needs and then which
method is the correct one to use.
Basically, there should be a useful class comment for every class which
explains how to use what class for what.

>Some of the methods do not appear  to do anything
> useful (if I may say so) because they depend on the  support provided by
> a whole series of other methods (and even classes)  and states of
> variables.

How is that not useful? If everything is an object and everything is
done via messages, then everything has to happen in methods.
Perhaps you have not completely digested this fact.

I think what is missing in Squeak is the old public/private view that
Envy allowed: It did not hinder a programmer from using a private
method, but at least it showed which ones you should use, the public ones.

>In the end I might still not have learnt how  the whole thing
> works! So my question is, is there any documentation  on the complete
> class library for Squeak written in a more accessible  style for the
> uninitiated?

Very likely, not.
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Claus Kick wrote

>No one really has the time to go through  every method
> to find out which is suitable and even then the  commentary is not
> always very good.

What else can you do? Even for Java, you have to go through all the
Javadocs, first to find which Class suits your needs and then which
method is the correct one to use.
Basically, there should be a useful class comment for every class which
explains how to use what class for what.

Am i right in thinking these pages are like javadocs 'scraped' from an image at a point in time?
http://www.oldenbuettel.de/squeak-doku/class_index.html

If so, is it possible to rescrape them to give 'conventional'-looking documentation of current images?

...Stan