[vwnc] Smalltalk at the top!

There's an interesting article in the latest IEEE Software:
http://www.computer.org/portal/cms_docs_software/software/homepage/2008/
s5gei.pdf

I thought you might like the attached picture from it, showing the level
of abstraction of well-known software development tools over time. I've
highlighted the three development tools that were well ahead of the
curve, i.e. furthest above the diagonal. Written in Smalltalk, all three
of them. (And no, the authors are not related to any of them!)

There's more on the article in my blog, if you're interested:
http://www.metacase.com/blogs/stevek/blogView?showComments=true&entry=33
99126712

Steve

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The interesting thing is that it shows VisualAge at
1985. VA did not appear until around 1995.

Terry
 
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Not having read the article, but only looking at the graphics with the
picture simply
states that Eclipse has reached a level that VA Smalltalk had reached
twenty years ago and VisualStudio is already ahead or at least will be
in two years
And, of course, it states that Smalltalk hasn't moved a lot over the
last 20 years.

Ah, did I mention that VisualAge hasnt been in existence back in the
1985-1990 timeframe? So the graphic is also inaccurate...

I'd like to know what "Level of abstraction" really means in this picture.

IMO, The graphic alone doesn't say anything without some explanation.
But it's good to see smalltalk at the top ;-)))

Joachim

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To answer some questions, and save you the trouble of actually reading the article :-)

It's talking about software development tools - hence "Smalltalk IDE" not just "Smalltalk".

It shows tools only when they were first released, not subsequent development. E.g. VisualWorks (1992?) isn't there, although it clearly raised the level of abstraction from the Smalltalk IDE of the 70s.

I don't know what happened with VisualAge. Maybe they were looking at old Smalltalks and it got mixed up with Digitalk's Methods, the 1985 precursor to ST/V? My own feeling is that VisualAge and VisualWorks were at about the same level of abstraction, so I'd be happy drawing a line from Smalltalk IDE to where VisualAge is and calling it "Smalltalk IDE evolution".

The article is explicit about the fact that there is no ISO unit or measurement method for "level of abstraction". And implicit about the fact that any expert on a given tool will rightfully quibble about the details for that tool :-). (E.g. our product is MetaEdit+; MetaCase is the company. But I'll try to forgive the authors :-> ).

Steve



From: Eliot Miranda [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: 17 September 2008 20:41
To: Steven Kelly
Cc: vwnc mailing list
Subject: Re: [vwnc] Smalltalk at the top!

The graph still shows Smalltalk at the same level as Hypercard, CodeWarrior and VisualStudio, and puts VisualStudio2003 well ahead.  Is it talking about GUI builders or language?
On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 8:16 AM, Steven Kelly <[hidden email]> wrote:
There's an interesting article in the latest IEEE Software:
http://www.computer.org/portal/cms_docs_software/software/homepage/2008/
s5gei.pdf

I thought you might like the attached picture from it, showing the level
of abstraction of well-known software development tools over time. I've
highlighted the three development tools that were well ahead of the
curve, i.e. furthest above the diagonal. Written in Smalltalk, all three
of them. (And no, the authors are not related to any of them!)

There's more on the article in my blog, if you're interested:
http://www.metacase.com/blogs/stevek/blogView?showComments=true&entry=33
99126712

Steve

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