With very few exceptions, no important programming language ever “dies.” Even APL and Forth are still in use today, if only in a small way (including their derivatives like J and Factor).
But from the perspective of the programming community at large, if a programming language no longer has a large user base, it’s effectively dead. This may not be fair but there you have it. We may argue that it doesn’t matter. If Smalltalk serves a small community well, that’s the important thing. I take a broader perspective. We live in a technological world where software development productivity is a serious bottleneck. Smalltalk has the potential to greatly alleviate this bottleneck. Cutting development time in half (or better) matters a lot. This, I believe, is what we must fight for. We may fail. Indeed, we *probably* *will fail*. But if we don’t try, we definitely will fail. Cheers,\ Richard Lorenzo wrote: > You are absolutely right! > > Lorenzo > > \-----Messaggio originale----- > Da: Esteban Maringolo \[mailto:emaring...@gmail.com\] > Inviato: domenica 25 luglio 2021 17:54 > A: Any question about pharo is welcome > [pharo-users@lists.pharo.org](mailto:pharo-users@lists.pharo.org) > Oggetto: \[Pharo-users\] Re: The Greatest Contributors to Smalltalk since 1980 > > On Sun, Jul 25, 2021 at 11:31 AM Tim Mackinnon > [tim@testit.works](mailto:tim@testit.works) wrote: > > > Isn’t this the wrong question to ask? I’m assuming this is to do with > > Smalltalk’s 50th anniversary, and of course we are grateful to those early > > pioneers who did lots of work in the field 20-30 years ago but to me that’s > > the old history and while it’s interesting to call out, it doesn’t shed > > life on the day to day energy we have today - whst keeps Smalltalk alive > > and current. > > Hi share the view, it's the wrong question, and it pursues that "hero > worshipping" culture that is already dead (or at least outdated) since a long > time ago. > > Additionally, I don't share the "keeping Smalltalk alive" expression, as if > dying was its inevitable outcome. I haven't heard "keeping LISP alive" (and I > don't call LISP as dead either). It would be self-deceiving to call ourselves > mainstream, but that doesn't mean we're doomed somehow. > > So in 50 years we should celebrate the half-century, remember the history, > look at what we did "wrong", and focus on looking forward, because "the best > way to predict the future is to invent it" ;-) > > Regards! > > Esteban A. Maringolo
