Editing Smalltalk (section)

==Influences==
Smalltalk was one of many object-oriented programming languages based on [[Simula]].<ref>The Simula language was also object-oriented and preceded (and was acknowledged as an influence on) Smalltalk but it was a simulation language, not a general purpose programming language.</ref> Smalltalk is also one of the most influential programming languages.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} Virtually all of the object-oriented languages that came after—[[Flavors (programming language)|Flavors]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Cannon|first=Howard|title=Flavors A non-hierarchical approach to object-oriented programming|url=http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/MIT/nnnfla1-20040122.pdf|work=softwarepreservation.org|access-date=17 December 2013}}</ref> [[CLOS]], [[Objective-C]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]],<ref>{{cite web|title=About Ruby|url=https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/about/|work=ruby-lang.org|access-date=17 December 2013}}</ref> and many others—were influenced by Smalltalk. Smalltalk was also one of the most popular languages for [[agile software development]] methods, [[rapid application development]] (RAD) or prototyping, and [[software design pattern]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Where Did Refactoring Come From?|url=http://sourcemaking.com/refactoring/where-did-refactoring-come-from|work=sourcemaking.com|access-date=17 December 2013}}</ref> The highly productive environment provided by Smalltalk platforms made them ideal for rapid, iterative development.

Smalltalk emerged from a larger program of [[Advanced Research Projects Agency]] (ARPA) funded research that in many ways defined the modern world of computing. In addition to Smalltalk, working prototypes of things such as [[hypertext]], GUIs, [[multimedia]], the mouse, [[telepresence]], and the Internet were developed by ARPA researchers in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|title=DARPA – ARPA|url=http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_darpa.htm|work=livinginternet.com|access-date=16 December 2013|quote=To meet this need, ARPA established the IPTO in 1962 with a mandate to build a survivable computer network to interconnect the DoD's main computers at the Pentagon, Cheyenne Mountain, and SAC HQ.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Engelbart's Role in Early Computer Networking|url=http://www.dougengelbart.org/firsts/internet.html|work=dougengelbart.org|access-date=17 December 2013}}</ref> Alan Kay (one of the inventors of Smalltalk) also described a tablet computer he named the [[Dynabook]] which resembles modern tablet computers like the iPad.<ref name="History"/>

Smalltalk environments were often the first to develop what are now common object-oriented software design patterns. One of the most popular is the [[model–view–controller]] (MVC) pattern for [[user interface]] design. The MVC pattern enables developers to have multiple consistent views of the same underlying data. It's ideal for software development environments, where there are various views (e.g., entity-relation, dataflow, object model, etc.) of the same underlying specification. Also, for simulations or games where the underlying model may be viewed from various angles and levels of abstraction.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Krasner|first1=Glen|last2=Pope|first2=Stephen|title=A Cookbook for Using the Model-View-Controller User Interface Paradigm in Smalltalk -80|journal=Journal of Object-Oriented Programming|date=August–September 1988}}</ref>

In addition to the MVC pattern, the Smalltalk language and environment were influential in the history of the [[graphical user interface]] (GUI) and the ''what you see is what you get'' ([[WYSIWYG]]) user interface, font editors, and desktop metaphors for UI design. The powerful built-in debugging and object inspection tools that came with Smalltalk environments set the standard for all the [[integrated development environment]]s, starting with [[Lisp Machine]] environments, that came after.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our Influence|url=http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/main/about-us/the-big-influence-of-smalltalk/|work=cincomsmalltalk.com|access-date=16 December 2013}}</ref>

Smalltalk uses several collection filter operators that rhyme with the "-ect" suffix, collect:, select:, inject:into:, et al. This was inspired by a line from the 1967 [[Arlo Guthrie]] monologue "[[Alice's Restaurant Massacree]]," in which Guthrie underwent a battery of being "injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-04-29 |title=Injected, Inspected, Detected, Infected, Neglected and Selected |url=https://news.squeak.org/2014/04/29/injected-inspected-detected-infected-neglected-and-selected/ |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=The Weekly Squeak |language=en}}</ref>