[MUD-Dev] OpenCroquet

[Frank Crowell]

From: "Frank Crowell" <frankc at maddog.com>

> p.s. squeak is a smalltalk variant.  why squeak?  cause I think
> squock was already taken.

Not even close.  Squeak is Smalltalk-80 but the system is written in
itself and yet has a C-transformer that can take the Squeak code and
generate all the C source for Squeak.  Croquet is Tea taken to
Squeak and that's why it was called TeaSqueak for a while. Squeak
can be fairly easily extended by using Slang (a Smalltalk subset),
test the extension in Squeak, then have it convert it to a C dll
ready for the compiler.

It's worth taking a look at Croquet for several reasons.  Although
some of the 3D graphics still has a VRML feel to it, Alice 3D has a
Squeak interface and the Squeak guys have done some interesting
extension to Smalltalk. The whole "digital media" concept in Squeak
then becomes part of Croquet.  Croquet integrates all this in a
peer-to-peer network.  Well there is a lot more to Croquet than
that.  The whole Squeak/Croquet thing is about going back 20 years
and changing the evolution of computer OS.  Croquet has an
Apple-flavor, not so strange given that Squeak came from Apple. But
it is just plain fun to explore.

Somewhat related to Smalltalk is a programming language called Ruby.
Ruby is a dynamic scripting language that implements much of what is
in Smalltalk without the Smalltalk syntax.  Ruby is another fun
language that is a mixture of Smalltalk, Perl, some Python, and C,
but it doesn't feel like a Swiss army knife.  The syntax is clean
and yet easily maps into Smalltalk.  Oh, and you get mixins which is
the Lisp method of handling multiple inheritance.  Smalltalk can
also be extended with mixins.

The reason why I mention Ruby is that although Smalltalk is a great
thing to work with, the syntax gets in my way.  Ruby doesn't seem to
do that. I just don't think too many people want to program in
Smalltalk.






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