SmallTalk as a first language?

[molinari]

Does anyone have any recommendations for sites, books, etc for someone
who wants to learn SmallTalk as basically a first language? (I know
some VBA scripting, but that's it).

[Janko Mivšek]

Hi,

Post by molinari
Does anyone have any recommendations for sites, books, etc for someone
who wants to learn SmallTalk as basically a first language? (I know
some VBA scripting, but that's it).

Welcome! http://www.world.st is the best way to start into a Smalltalk
world :) For starting I'd recommend Pharo Smalltalk
http://www.pharoproject.org and a book Pharo by Example
http://www.pharobyexample.org.

Best regards
Janko

[Randal L. Schwartz]

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[molinari]

Post by Randal L. Schwartz
The "Bots Inc" tutorial is really nice... you start out playing with
robots (as morphs) and "accidentally" learn Smalltalk in the process.

Thank you Randal and Janko for replying. I really appreciate the
starter-tips!

[jarober]

Post by molinari
Does anyone have any recommendations for sites, books, etc for someone
who wants to learn SmallTalk as basically a first language? (I know
some VBA scripting, but that's it).

You can download Cincom Smalltalk and take a look at the video
tutorials:

http://smalltalk-daily.cincomsmalltalk.com

[molinari]

Post by jarober

Post by molinari
Does anyone have any recommendations for sites, books, etc for someone
who wants to learn SmallTalk as basically a first language? (I know
some VBA scripting, but that's it).

You can download Cincom Smalltalk and take a look at the video
http://smalltalk-daily.cincomsmalltalk.com

Thanks for your recommendation.

Thanks for the replies! This community is great :-) I was just looking
at an article on Squeak vs. Pharo (don't want to start a holy war),
and now Cincom Smalltalk is in the mix, but what is the main
difference? I'm interested in using them with the Seaside platform
(with PierCMS as the CMS). Will they all work with Seaside? If I learn
in one environment as a newbie to programming, I presume it'll be
pretty easy to switch to another (e.g., Squeak <=> Pharo <> Cincom?

[jarober]

Seaside is well supported in both Pharo and Cincom Smalltalk; I'm not
really sure about Pier on VisualWorks though.

Post by molinari

Post by jarober

Post by molinari
Does anyone have any recommendations for sites, books, etc for someone
who wants to learn SmallTalk as basically a first language? (I know
some VBA scripting, but that's it).

You can download Cincom Smalltalk and take a look at the video
http://smalltalk-daily.cincomsmalltalk.com

Thanks for your recommendation.
Thanks for the replies! This community is great :-) I was just looking
at an article on Squeak vs. Pharo (don't want to start a holy war),
and now Cincom Smalltalk is in the mix, but what is the main
difference? I'm interested in using them with the Seaside platform
(with PierCMS as the CMS). Will they all work with Seaside? If I learn
in one environment as a newbie to programming, I presume it'll be
pretty easy to switch to another (e.g., Squeak <=> Pharo <> Cincom?

[Randal L. Schwartz]

molinari> Thanks for the replies! This community is great :-) I was just
molinari> looking at an article on Squeak vs. Pharo (don't want to start
molinari> a holy war), and now Cincom Smalltalk is in the mix, but what
molinari> is the main difference? I'm interested in using them with the
molinari> Seaside platform (with PierCMS as the CMS). Will they all work
molinari> with Seaside? If I learn in one environment as a newbie to
molinari> programming, I presume it'll be pretty easy to switch to
molinari> another (e.g., Squeak <=> Pharo <> Cincom?

Seaside 3.0 is fairly portable, with most non-portable things hidden
behind the "Grease" library, across Pharo, Cincom, Dolphin, GemStone,
GNU-ST, Squeak, and VA Smalltalk.

However, the way you interact with each of those environments can vary
widely. Many of them offer free downloads, even if they aren't outright
FLOSS software (Pharo, GNU, Squeak), so check them out!

Welcome to Smalltalk.

[molinari]

I'd forgotten that the person who recommended Smalltalk on the Seaside
platform to me had linked to a free eBook:
http://www.canol.info/books/computer_programming_using_gnu_smalltalk/

[molinari]

Something else that came up was the "Self" language and Zokutalk, both
of which are apparently easy to learn once Smalltalk is learned?

[Truth]

My best recommendation is get a copy of the Smalltalk introduction
book published by IBM. Then explore the source code for a few pre-
written classes until you understand how they work, starting with
Dictionary.

After that you should be up to speed to take on the tutorial
suggestions mentioned above.

[d***@erols.com]

+1 on any of the By Example books. They are good if you have -any-
programming knowledge because you can drop into them like a reference
book and see how Smalltalk does loops, arrays, etc.

Smalltalk with Style is also excellent. Many free books are here:
http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks.html

Donald[|]
A bad day in [] is better than a good day in {}

[Claudio]

Post by d***@erols.com
+1 on any of the By Example books. They are good if you have -any-
programming knowledge because you can drop into them like a reference
book and see how Smalltalk does loops, arrays, etc.
Smalltalk with Style is also excellent. Many free books are here:http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks.html
Donald[|]
A bad day in [] is better than a good day in {}

I think the best Smalltalk book is "Smalltalk, Objects and
Design" (Camond Liu) so far.
http://www.amazon.com/Smalltalk-Objects-Design-Chamond-Liu/dp/1583484906