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From: gtstellf@ripco.com (Greg Stellflue)
Subject: Re: Which smalltalk to choose ?
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Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 18:50:52 GMT
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Bosco Cheung (bcs@io.org) wrote:
: I would like to learn smalltalk but I can not decide on what product
: to use (ie. digitalk, vw).  What is hot in the industry ?  Thanks.

If you really want to just learn Smalltalk using what is hot in the industry 
may not be the best choice.

First a little background on me.

I have completed projects in Smalltalk/V and in Enfin. I have also looked at 
teaching Smalltalk via Linux and Smalltalk/X. I have also spent some time 
evaluating Visual Works. I have not looked at IBMs Smalltalk since it was in 
its real early stages in Cary in 91. So, I have the little background in 
VisualWorks and VisualAge. 

First you need to ask how much you want to spend. There are ways to learn it 
realtively inexpensivly, like GNU Smalltalk/X. If money is no object, then you 
should look at the platform or platforms that you want to learn on. If you 
are looking to learn on OS/2 my preference is Digitalk, if you have really 
tight ties to relational DBs I like what Enfin has done, althought their 
interface builder isn't as good as PARTs. From what I hear the multi-platform 
leader is PP. Lastly from what I hear if you are looking to build a really 
slow application VisualAge is for you :-).

These are just some thought and mostly opinions. So remember what my dear old 
daddy used to tell me. Opinions are like a..holes everyone has them and most 
of them stink.

Good luck in your learning process, don't get discouraged, it really is great 
once the paradigm smacks you over the head.


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