Editing Smalltalk (section)

===Methods===
When an object receives a message, a method matching the message name is invoked. The following code defines a method publish, and so defines what will happen when this object receives the 'publish' message.
<syntaxhighlight lang="smalltalk">
publish
    Transcript show: 'Hello World!'
</syntaxhighlight>
The following method demonstrates receiving multiple arguments and returning a value:
<syntaxhighlight lang="smalltalk">
quadMultiply: i1 and: i2
    "This method multiplies the given numbers by each other and the result by 4."
    | mul |
    mul := i1 * i2.
    ^mul * 4
</syntaxhighlight>
The method's name is <code>#quadMultiply:and:</code>. The return value is specified with the <code>^</code> operator.

Objects are responsible for determining dynamically at runtime which method to execute in response to a message—while in many languages this may be (sometimes, or even always) determined statically at compile time.