Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
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From: knight@mrco.carleton.ca (Alan Knight)
Subject: Re: C++ / Smalltalk
Message-ID: <knight.789507125@tina.mrco.carleton.ca>
Sender: news@cunews.carleton.ca (News Administrator)
Reply-To: knight@mrco.carleton.ca (Alan Knight)
Organization: Carleton University
References: <3emeho$cqt@news1.delphi.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Jan 1995 19:32:05 GMT
Lines: 43

In <3emeho$cqt@news1.delphi.com> jsutherland@BIX.com (Jeff Sutherland) writes:

>>I'm not quite sure what your point is here, but all of the Smalltalk
>>compilers I know of are implemented in entirely in Smalltalk.
>> Alan Knight                | The Object People

>Enfin Smalltalk primitives were written in C.  We have taken a lot of flak
>for having C in the product.

As are the primitives in almost all Smalltalks. The compiler, however,
is not a primitive.

>As we improve the engine, we find that we moving almost completely to
>Microsoft C++ foundation classes underlying the Smalltalk.  This is the
>only way to get seamless interoperability of Smalltalk components with OLE
>components provided by any vendor in any language.

So what happens to your UNIX/OS/2 versions?

>This is also the only way to get totally native Windows look and feel in
>Windows 3.1, Windows NT, and Windows 95, not to mention distributed OLE
>components with Cairo.

"The *only* way?". I guess both Borland and Digitalk would be unhappy
to hear that.

>This is also the only way to provide seamlessly interoperability with C++. 
>Since C++ is object assembler, we want to be able to write the equivalent
>of inline assembly code.

>This is also the only way to break the monolithic hold that traditional
>Smalltalk has on the environment, specifically radically reducing the
>footprint, so multiple Smalltalk OLE components can be scattered in the
>middle of a C++, VB, or Powerbuilder app.

I don't believe this is the only way to do these things. In fact, I
think it's absurd to say that it's the only way.

-- 
 Alan Knight                | The Object People
 knight@acm.org             | Smalltalk and OO Training and Consulting
 alan_knight@mindlink.bc.ca | 509-885 Meadowlands Dr.
 +1 613 225 8812            | Ottawa, Canada, K2C 3N2
