Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
From: Andy@kahuna.demon.co.uk (Andy Deighton)
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!demon!kahuna.demon.co.uk!Andy
Subject: Re: Language comparisons-Enfin smalltalk vs others
References: <Cz0Bq7.4HG@zeno.fit.edu>
Reply-To: Andy@kahuna.demon.co.uk
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Date: Fri, 11 Nov 1994 22:56:22 +0000
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In article <Cz0Bq7.4HG@zeno.fit.edu> you@somehost.somedomain "Christine" writes:

> We have a client that is looking for Enfin expertise.  They are 
> adament about Enfin experience and are not interested in folks with 
> PP or Digitalk background.
> 
> We are having difficulty understanding this since our belief is the
> languages are similar and if one has a solid understanding of 
> OO design methodologies, etc,etc, then the nuances of the various 
> ST dialects is a managable issue.
> 
> Can anyone help me understand the biggest difference between the Enfin
> ST implementation and PP or DT.  And can you help me better understand
> this clients thinking.
> 
> Thanks.
> Christine Pepin
> 407-725-0260
> 
> 

Hi Christine,
I anticipate that you'll get several of the messages from ENFIN users,
so I apologise in advance for any duplications!
In some ways I can understand why your client wants ENFIN-specific skills
over 'general' OO and PP/DT Smalltalk skills.
Sure, the *syntax* of these three major flavours is identical, as are
the structures of most of the key 'base' classes such as Collection, 
Magnitude, Object, Class, Behavior etc.
However, it really stops there.  Whereas I can learn from a publication
like 'The Smalltalk Report', about how to implement better blocks and 
the like, and apply that knowledge to PP, DT or ENFIN, when it comes 
to things like the GUI classes, garbage collections, Streams, database 
connectivity (a VERY strong point in ENFIN Smalltalk by the way) or 
event-handling, the fact that all three are flavours of Smalltalk 
does not help.  
ENFIN is quite different (especially from STV) in the sense that it 
contains a wealth of development tools that go way beyond your traditional
'bare-bones' Smalltalk image.  
I would suspect, therefore, that your client knows that if they take on
any old ST programmer, then they would have to invest some time in 
teaching that candidate about the *differences* - ENFIN is very much
geared towards client/server apps and therefore contains large amounts
of SQL classes and tools that you will not find in the other flavours.
Having said all that (!), I am surprised that they are not prepared to 
look at other ST-skilled candidates - I would rather take on a Smalltalker
than a non-Smalltalker!

Hope this helps...?
-- 
+-----------------------------+
|       Andy J Deighton       |
|eMail:andy@kahuna.demon.co.uk|
+-----------------------------+
