Tom Nies is willing to offer a $10,000 prize for a paper on "Why Smalltalk is better than Java."
It has also been suggested that other uses may be better.
- Alan Knight had an idea for a variation: "Here's one idea I had. Do some research/ a writeup on programming language and development environment support for eXtreme Programming features. First off, just arguing "better" without a context is meaningless. This gives it a context, and one in which it's pretty clear that Smalltalk is better and we can catalogue how and have some objective comparisons (e.g. in an XP environment there is a premium on code changeability and compile-time guarantees are less important because we have gazillions of tests to verify functionality."
- I have suggested spending the money on a Web-cast video debate aimed at a University audience on "Why Smalltalk is a better OO language."
- An idea from Peter van Rooijen: BTW, I wouldn't be a candidate for the 10 grand either, as it is clear to me that Java is much better than Smalltalk. After all, if it wasn't, why would so many more people be using it? The user is always right, right? Now, an article on how to *make* Smalltalk better than Java, that would be interesting!
- I've assembled a Smalltalk-CDROM with all ST-dialects and tutorials for educational use. Thanks to all the vendors who gave me the permission to put their NonCommercial-Versions onto the CD. We sell the CD here for students only for the price of the raw CD and shipping. Everybody is free to make copies of the CD as long as the CD is used for educational purpose. It's not allowed to sell the CD for more than the cost of making the copy and shipment. That's an easy way to get more people into Smalltalk without much effort. I'm planning to create a new one (or better two CD's) with more tutorials, updated versions of the ST-systems for different platforms, better look, ... Maybe the vendors can help me again by giving me the permission to use their new NC-versions and by giving me more documentations. I also plan to create a seperate Squeak-CD (I have a large collection of all the Squeak versions and goodies). (Torsten Bergmann)
- Alan says above that arguing "better" without a context is not meaningful. I wonder if arguing at all in useful. I'd suggest that we try to amazeAndAstound folks in the first 5 minutes that they look at a Smalltalk environment. Currently, it's too hard to approach. VW in particular. It needs simpler browsers, a simpler GUI builder, and simpler documentation. Why is it that a simple language has so much non-simple baggage? So how about giving out prize money to folks who provide new and simple ways for beginners to approach VW MarkWindholtz.
--- What about a slightly different title that people might find more believable: 'When is Smalltalk better than Java?'. How does that sound? Peter van Rooijen
--- Is a nail better than a screw? ~winterblue~
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