Previous | Table of Contents | Next |
One of the most recent additions to the Smalltalk culture is object technology centers (OTCs). Although they are not exclusive to Smalltalk, OTCs seem to be a part of companies with multiple Smalltalk efforts in progress.
The definition of an OTC and the role it plays in relationship to ongoing projects vary among corporations. The OTC can be established as an object support group consisting of experienced developers offering all projects guidance throughout their development lifecycle, from analysis to deployment. The OTC can also be established as the center for reuse, driving projects to not only develop reusable objects, components, or frameworks, but also to use the components developed by others, both within and outside the corporation. On the other hand, instead of just policing the practice of reuse, the OTC can be responsible for developing reusable objects, components, and frameworks. The OTC can also play the role of researcher and support personnel of development tools. A somewhat simpler OTC role is collection of in-house consultants/mentors loaned out to development efforts for stated periods of time to perform pre-defined functions for the project. The various roles and responsibilities of running an OTC and coordinating object projects can be found in Succeeding with Objects: Decision Frameworks for Project Management, by Adele Goldberg and Kenneth S. Rubin (1995).
Regardless of the definition and role the OTC plays, the most crucial element of its success within a corporation is senior management support and belief in its existence. This support ensures necessary department and corporate buy-in. Without support, the group will not have the teeth to achieve the intended purpose for its foundation.
The development lifecycle of Smalltalk can be a very different experience for different organizations and individuals. Frequently, Smalltalk applications are developed iteratively, and the developers are active players in gathering requirements through use cases, analysis and design of object models, development of code, creation of test cases, and deployment of applications. Many claims have been made about how quickly Smalltalk development can be done, but those are true only when the requirements are clear and the developers are experienced with both Smalltalk and the type of problem that the software will solve. With the right combination of Smalltalk and domain experience, proven methodologysuch as Objectory (Jacobson, 1992)and good management, organizations are creating quality software that is a corporate investment and asset, not just an expense.
Currently, IBM dominates the sales of Smalltalk development environments. Some of the smaller entrepreneurial companies offer interesting technology that can play a larger role in the future. (See Table 5.2.)
Vendor | Product | Description |
---|---|---|
IBM | VisualAge/Smalltalk | Currently, this is the top-selling product. It runs on OS/2, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, AIX, SunOS, and HP/UX. (http://www.software.ibm.com/ad) |
ObjectShare (formerly ParcPlace-Digitalk) | VisualWorks | The Xerox PARC spin-off product still bears great resemblance to the original Smalltalk. It is available on the widest range of platforms but provides a mostly emulated user interface and polled execution of the GUI (although both can be changed in the package). (http://www.parcplace.com) |
ObjectShare (formerly ParcPlace-Digitalk) | Visual Smalltalk (Smalltalk/V) | The fate of this product is currently unknown because ParcPlace-Digitalk has put any work on the product on hold. It might be sold off to another vendor. The product runs on Windows and OS/2, but the user interface is not completely portable between the two. (http://www.parcplace.com) |
QKS | SmalltalkAgents | Although originally available only for the Macintosh this product will be available on the Windows platform. It provides an innovative set of development tools and many useful extensions to the language, along with fast execution. (http://www.smalltalkagents.com) |
VMark (Cincom) | ObjectStudio/Enfin | This product has been passed from one company to the next and is currently being developed by Cincom. It provides some unique features, but the development tools are more like those in a C development environment. (http://www.vmark.com) |
Intuitive | Dolphin Smalltalk | An innovative product from England, it provides a small footprint product that integrates well with the Microsoft operating systems. The demo includes Web functionality which parallels that of Java. (http://www.intuitive.co.uk) |
ObjectConnect SARL | Smalltalk MT | This version is for the newest Microsoft operating systems and features a small footprint and fast runtime. (http://www.objectconnect.com) |
eXept Software AG | Smalltalk X | ST/X has been around for a while in beta and is now available commercially for UNIX X Window-based computers. (http://www.informatik.uni-stuttgard.de/stx/stx.html) |
Numerous free versions of Smalltalk are available to play with and learn Smalltalk. These products can also be used for real applications, but dont expect perfection in features or technical support on these versions.
5.7.5.1. Apple Computer: Squeak
The Squeak technology is available from Apple Research (http://www.research.apple.com/research/proj/Learning_Concepts/squeak/intro.html) and is a free version of Smalltalk. It is being worked on by some of the early Xerox PARC researchers and authors (Kaehler & Patterson, 1986) and has been ported to several operating systems. Squeak generates C source code that can be compiled for each of the target platforms and includes full source for the classes and the virtual machine.
Previous | Table of Contents | Next |