Previous | Table of Contents | Next |
The future of Smalltalk is one of slow, steady growth. Although there is currently great publicity for Java, this languages is a long way from providing the stable solutions that Smalltalk has been providing for years. The overly optimistic prediction of the International Data Corporation in the report titled Smalltalk Market Accelerates (McClure, 1995)(commissioned by the Smalltalk Industry Council) predicted an exponential growth in Smalltalk sales, but the reality has been closer to linear growth over the last few years. A more recent report from International Data Corporation titled Smalltalk Strengths Stand Out (McClure, 1997) reports that the predicted exponential growth was incorrect, but that Smalltalk will continue its 20% annual growth. The existing applications in Smalltalk will continue to be enhanced and extended, and as more developers become knowledgeable about object-oriented concepts, they will choose object-oriented development tools such as Smalltalk for their applications. The role of Smalltalk as a server will increase as the need for complex application servers to provide content to the Internet and intranet clients skyrockets. Smalltalk has the maturity and current assets to provide this functionality, but it still commands a premium price (although the prices are dropping). The individual must weed through the various claims about development tools and products. One fact that probably isnt mentioned often is that most Smalltalk developers really enjoy Smalltalk and wouldnt trade it for another language unless it offered everything that Smalltalk offers and has at least one great advantage over Smalltalk.
The following Web sites offer additional information for those who wish to learn more about Smalltalk and the Smalltalk environment.
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/jpletzke (The authors Web page)
http://st-www.cs.uiuc.edu/ (Smalltalk Archive)
http://www.stic.org (Smalltalk Industry Council)
http://www.oti.com (OTI)
http://www.qks.com (QKS-SmalltalkAgents)
http://www.intuitive.co.uk (Intutive-Dolphin Smalltalk)
http://www.objectconnect.com (Object Connect-Smalltalk MT)
http://www.sigs.com (SIGS, publisher of Object Magazine, and The Smalltalk Report. Organizer of the Smalltalk Solutions Conference)
http://www.smalltalksystems.com (Former Digitalk and ObjectShare people and products)
Bergin, T., and R. Gibson (Eds.). 1996. History of programming language, Volume 2. New York: ACM Press, pp. 511-598.
Brooks, F. 1995. The mythical man-month. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Budd, T. 1987. A little Smalltalk. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Byte Magazine. 1981. Volume 6, Number 8.
Goldberg, A., and D. Robson. 1989. Smalltalk-80: The language. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Goldberg, A., and K. S. Rubin. 1995. Succeeding with objects: Decision frameworks for project management. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Jacobson, I. 1992. Object-oriented software engineering: A use case approach. New York: ACM Press.
Kaehler, T., and D. Patterson. 1986. A taste of Smalltalk. New York: Norton.
McClure, S. 1995. Smalltalk market accelerates. Framingham, MA: International Data Corporation. IDC #9818
McClure, S. 1997. Smalltalk strengths stand out. Framingham, MA: International Data Corporation. IDC #9818
Pletzke, J. 1997. Advanced Smalltalk. New York: Wiley.
Previous | Table of Contents | Next |