13 - WHOLE LOTTA SMALLTALK: THE TECHNOLOGY

Summary

You can't write a review without breaking some eggs. That was my conclusion after writing this article. I pretty much trashed the Enfin product as it stood, backed by my review research and a nasty experience at a potentially big client.

I was worried what my friends at Enfin would say after this came out. I was pleasantly surprised to find them supportive— “We know we have these problems. Let us show you how we are addressing them.”

I learned that readers appreciate it when you speak your mind plainly, but you'd better have some numbers to back up your opinions.

A funny thing happened on the way to objects. There was this C++ juggernaut that was supposed to trample all in its path. I can remember hearing all the talk at OOPSLA '86 in Portland about how C++ was the language for objects. “Too much momentum.” “Too many C programmers.” “The alternatives are too flaky.” Everything else was going to be trampled. Period. In spite of this, a thriving market has grown around Smalltalk, the granddadly of pure object languages. It may be a fraction of the C++ market, but it is currently the scene of enormous technical and business energy. I make my living with Smalltalk, so my opinions on the matter are suspect, but I'll present the facts of the products in the market and let you draw your own conclusions.