Posted by Sean P. DeNigris on Aug 23, 2014; 11:47pm
URL: https://forum.world.st/Can-Pharo-meet-all-your-computing-needs-tp4774250p4774304.html

kilon.alios wrote

I've been wondering if I can use Pharo the way I would use
Emacs, as an environment for doing everything."

This is the dream - the Dynabook vision. Smalltalk was a protoype exploration of JCR Licklider's dream, articulated in the early 60s "to become interactive intellectual amplifiers for all people", or as Dan Ingalls put it "to provide computer support for the creative spirit in everyone". There is no reason why Pharo should not be able to do this. Indeed it is why its lineage exists in the first place. The only thing necessary is the effort to implement the features that matter to you.

kilon.alios wrote

"* Use IRC?"

I remember there is at least one project, but would probably have to be ported to a current Pharo version

kilon.alios wrote

Pharo has a command shell, similar to emacs eshell

I've experimented with it quite a bit. The features are very impressive when you dig into it.

kilon.alios wrote

" Read the Pharo documentation (e.g. Pharo By Example)?"

This - unfortunately - is the weakest point of all the features you have mentioned. While multimedia is an essential part of the Dynabook vision, standards and formats have been moving so quickly and becoming so complicated that our community's resources are overwhelmed, and it seems we have mostly conceded here, although there are some bits and pieces lying around and now-a-days with all the FFI/NB advancements, a quick hack would be to wrap existing external libraries.

kilon.alios wrote

" Is there a package manager I can use to find new tools I can use in Pharo"

We are moving closer and closer to this, but don't yet have one central catalog.

Anyway, welcome! What you're suggesting is a dream for many of us. We've been focusing these last few years on infrastructure to make it more practical. Let's make it happen :)

- Sean