Self Mallard 4.5.0 released | Self. It's still alive. It's still one of the coolest systems to emerge from Smalltalk - very exotic, very different. From some aspects, systems can still learn today - the implementation of prototypical inheritance in the graphical development environment is really cool and still looks modern even today. The GUI framework itself has already found its way into Squeak some time ago, but outside the Squeak+Self world, hardly anyone knows it. Which is a shame. And the compiler is still one of the better ones in the field of bytecode languages. Especially when you compare how JavaScript presents itself today and what Self has been able to do for ages, you can get quite sad.
smalltalk
PharoDroid is an implementation of Pharo that runs on Android tablets - but really like on the desktop, so no special touch support. Therefore rather cumbersome to use, but it's a start.
Room 101: The Miracle of become:. One of the corners where Smalltalk clearly differs from all other languages I have had to do with so far (except Common Lisp, but that's different, because everything is possible there), is the become: method, with which two objects in the running system exchange their identity - so that after the call all references to a after a become: b then refer to b and vice versa. This explains what this means in practice.
Learn Smalltalk with ProfStef. I've already tried Amber, which is Smalltalk 80 based on JavaScript. Now it comes with a node.js-based web server that implements minimal WebDAV and is at least compatible enough with the language that the author could port the ProfStef tutorial - and I've linked it here. Just try playing with a Smalltalk on the website for 5 minutes.
Zinc HTTP Components. Interesting project that has set itself the task of providing as complete support as possible for all aspects of the HTTP protocol. Interesting because they start from the protocol definition and not, as in many other cases, the HTTP implementation is only as far as it was necessary for the respective web framework.
GemStone Seaside | About. About Seaside: there is a pretty cool virtual appliance (i.e. pre-chewed virtual disk image) for mounting in VMWare installations with a GemStone/S installation including Seaside and a Squeak as an IDE for development for this system. So if you want to see how the big kids work with Smalltalk, click here to download and try it out.
RMoD: Fuel. And another Smalltalk link - here a persistence library completely in Smalltalk without special support of the VM, but still good performance and good mapping capability for all kinds of objects.
SandstoneDb, Simple ActiveRecord Style Persistence in Squeak. A very simple single-file database for Pharo, which is interesting, for example, if you want to build small desktop applications in Pharo. So the classic GUI tools that you make for personal use, for example. And yes, today is Smalltalk Day at rfc1437.
Coral — Pharo Smalltalk for scripting. Oh, that's nice, that's one of the problems I always have with Smalltalk: I can work in the IDE and in the image and then export a headless application for the server, but as soon as I need a quick script outside the image, I have to switch languages. Coral provides the answer to this problem: a small wrapper, a minimal syntax extension and a minimal image to be able to write normal scripts with Pharo Smalltalk.
ToDE - tODE - the Object centric Development Environment. A bit stagnant in development, but still interesting: an IDE that builds on Pharo Smalltalk. The special feature: it runs in the browser, but offers all the usual Smalltalk development tools there. In principle, you could therefore install a hosted Smalltalk image as a development environment for the iPad and play with it on the go (Pharo and Squeak fit well into the browser interface because they usually don't come as native Windows, but as Windows-in-Windows - and here simply Windows-in-browser).
Jtalk Smalltalk. No idea why this has slipped past me so far - but a rather complete-looking Smalltalk implementation in JavaScript including an IDE with a class hierarchy browser is quite remarkable, even if it's not the first project of its kind (Clamato would be another, but that seems largely dead).
QuickSilver Network. Hmm, had I already mentioned that? Doesn't matter, it's cool. It's a Smalltalk-like development environment, but with JavaScript as the language and in the web browser instead of in an application. However, it's all still very raw and some things don't quite work (at least in Safari), but somehow still nice. Somehow, I could imagine someone combining it with TiddlyWiki (for persistence) and then making a JavaScript image system like the old Smalltalk systems, but on the web. Would be somehow funny. Pointless, but funny.
Home - Redline Smalltalk - Smalltalk for the Java Virtual Machine.. Not very far yet, but could become interesting at some point - and as an old Smalltalk fan, I naturally have to make a blog mark here.
F-Script Home Oldy but Good! is still actively developed. I still wish for a native class browser with editing capabilities to turn F-Script into a "real" Smalltalk for OSX, but it also serves as a replacement for AppleScript (with drastically more extensive capabilities, as it supports not only the Scripting Bridge but all Objective-C frameworks). And for many purposes, it's close enough to Smalltalk.
Lively Kernel - Lively. Something similar to a Smalltalk system, but it runs in the browser, lives in web pages, and uses JavaScript as the language. Provides typical Smalltalk tools like the class browser and inspectors. And a test on the iPad was not blazing fast, but usable. By Dan Ingalls, the Smalltalk implementer alongside Alan Kay.
Open Cobalt Website. What has become of OpenCroquet - apparently usable downloads are now available, not just an SDK. Peer2Peer virtual worlds in Smalltalk.
The Art and Science of Smalltalk is now freely available on the web (PDF link). And where the book is located there are more books about Smalltalk for free download.
Pharo Open Source Smalltalk. I should take another look at it, as it looks very sleek now and the installation has become really trivial. Clever how a Pharo.App directory is loaded, which is the app for OSX and includes simple startup tools (LNK for Windows and .sh for Linux) for Linux and Windows. Additionally, there is a new VM and the whole thing has become really fast. And it no longer looks so outdated (unfortunately still GUI-in-window and no native windows).
Dynamic Web Development with Seaside - those who want to get started with Seaside might find an approach here. Free online book (also available as a paid PDF or print-on-demand via Lulu) about a quite impressive web framework for Smalltalk. And since it now also runs with GNU Smalltalk, operating it as a headless server on your own root box is no longer a big problem.
bamboo-language - "Bamboo is intended to provide an implementation of Smalltalk and Strongtalk for both the iPhone and Mac OS X, leveraging Apple's Objective-C runtime, LLVM, and Clang.". There is not much content there yet, so it should rather be considered a statement of intent.
pier - anyone who wants to play around with Seaside and applications for it on the Mac, here is a project that has built a Mac application around a Squeak with Seaside and a CMS. It makes quite an interesting impression (and yes, today is once again dig-into-google-code-projects day ...)
Clamato: A Smalltalk Dialect for JavaScript - I have no idea if I already had this and I'm too lazy to check, but it's interesting enough for a repost.
Dynamic Web Development with Seaside - and since I just came across it, an open book about Seaside. So you can start hacking right away. Everyone should check out Seaside, even if they come from Ruby or Python or PHP corners, it's just one of the most exciting web frameworks out there.
GNU Smalltalk - as an old Smalltalker (Methodworks anyone??) I always take a look at what's happening there. GNU Smalltalk was long the stepchild of Smalltalks, but meanwhile it has really gained a lot. Especially the support for Cairo and LibSDL brings some possibilities for graphics and Seaside is the part for web applications par excellence (with Swazoo as the web server underneath). And a native web framework of its own is already available with Iliad. And with SandstoneDB there is a persistence layer for objects. And the biggest disadvantage of GNU Smalltalk - the lack of a graphical environment - becomes a real advantage for web applications, because headless GNU Smalltalk is trivial. The next version 3.2 will be really exciting.
Pharo Open Source Smalltalk - a project to make Squeak look a bit more professional. It looks good, and if they go beyond pure aesthetics (and e.g. build bridges to native libraries), this could become very interesting.
iSqueak - and here is the development environment with which you can program the iPhone in Smalltalk.
Sup dawg, we heard you like Smalltalk so we put Smalltalk in your Factor so you can send messages while you roll - an implementation of Smalltalk in Factor. Quite extensible and could also bring this nice environment to people who don't know Factor yet (sometimes starting with a known language is easier).
Squeak by Example - those who want to get started with Squeak but don't know where to begin might find inspiration in this free book.
Étoilé - interesting project based on GNUStep, providing an environment with libraries, frameworks, programming languages (a Smalltalk that can be directly combined with Objective-C) and tools. It's great that there are always activities in the GNUStep environment, as it operates somewhat below the horizon defined by Gnome and KDE desktop environments.
Squeak on the iPhone! - and Apple seems to agree. Wooot!
Cog Blog - fascinating blog of a programmer who is building a new Squeak Smalltalk VM, and writes about the problems of the Blue Book architecture and possible solutions - and he comes from VisualWorks VM development, so he should know what he's talking about. Very interesting to read and the result could also be interesting, as he predicts significant performance gains for his new VM.
Magma - Object Database as Open Source for Squeak.
SeasideXUL - an interesting project that directly generates XUL interfaces from Seaside (the Smalltalk web application server) and allows the creation of applications with native interfaces. Very interesting, as here a web server technology is used for local applications (and yes, this sounds damn similar to AIR, only with Smalltalk and XUL instead of JavaScript/ActionScript and HTML/Flash)
Seaside development with GNU Smalltalk - very nice. GNU Smalltalk is simply one of the better batch Smalltalk variants. The others are just GUI-free images, GNU Smalltalk is far better geared towards text mode from the start. And for a dynamic web server, it is simply the better environment. Combined with the quite powerful web-based tools from Seaside, this could become a really nice environment in the long run.
FSClass 3.0 - allows extending Objective-C classes and creating new classes in F-Script without having to directly access Objective-C. If someone would build a decent class browser around it, with which you can interactively create methods instead of having to go through files, then OSX would almost be something like a Smalltalk system.
Learn F-Script in 20 Minutes...and Have Fun Playing with Core Image - nice tutorial for F-Script. Interactively explore the OSX API through image experiments.
GLASS: Gemstone, Linux, Apache, Seaside and Smalltalk - Gemstone/S as a free version (free beer) and with Seaside a nice API set up to comfortably develop web applications in Smalltalk. Sounds good!
Spoon - interesting approach: to create a system based on Squeak with a minimal object system and dynamic loading of additional classes/objects/methods on demand.
Free Smalltalk Books - as PDFs
Vista Smalltalk Wiki - I had already seen this before, but there's a reason for the repetition: I only noticed today that Vista Smalltalk is not just a Smalltalk in Flash (ActionScript), but that it contains its own Lisp layer on which it is based. So a Smalltalk in Lisp in ActionScript ...
Vista Smalltalk - originally a Smalltalk targeting Windows Vista, at least according to the documentation. But it is runnable with Flash - and thus in the Safari browser or even with the Apollo Runtime on other systems. And the Smalltalk isn't even that bad - and it also includes a small Lisp. Funny thing.
Open Croquet SDK 1.0 - no longer Beta, but Release now. It remains exciting.
Strongtalk: A High-Performance Open Source Smalltalk With An Optional Type System - now completely open source, including the VM (which provided essential impulses for the Java Hotspot technology).
StepTalk(GNU Scripting Framework) - now available in a version for Mac OS X!
Stéphane Ducasse :: Free Online Books - a whole series of free books about Smalltalk. Some are only scanned, some are real text PDFs. A whole series of classics are included.
[GOODIE] Headless Squeak for OS X (Re: Mac VM 3.2.X)](http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2002-April/037668.html) - how to get a headless Squeak (Smalltalk environment without GUI component) running under OS X for server services. Particularly interesting for using Seaside.
Learning Seaside - cool demo of what can be done with Seaside (Smalltalk web framework) and AJAX. Essentially a database interface with a freely configurable database model - something like Google Base, only cooler.
Seaside is a flexible and very interesting web framework in Smalltalk. I have already linked to tutorials about it, but not the framework itself - at least not at its new address. Runs on Squeak and Visual Works - and through their wide availability on almost everything that can be called a computer and has a TCP/IP connection to the outside world.
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Smalltalk Compiler is an older but still good description of the compiler classes in Smalltalk-80 derivatives like VisualWorks Smalltalk and Squeak.
Bistro Intro is a Smalltalk variant that runs on the Java VM. I didn't know that before.