[5428] in java-interest
Re: Microsoft's Java-Killer! (VBScript)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Daly)
Thu Feb 8 15:57:25 1996
To: grege@optimation.com.au (Greg Ewing)
Cc: java-interest@java.sun.com, cdaly@rational.com
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 08 Feb 1996 14:45:31 +1100."
<9602080345.AA17494@thredbo.optimation.com.au>
Date: Thu, 08 Feb 1996 11:37:49 -0800
From: Chris Daly <cdaly@rational.com>
> If you already know C++ and Smalltalk, then Java will be a
> cakewalk. C++ is complex, Smalltalk easier but still far
> more difficult to learn than Java.
>
I don't entirely agree with respect to Smalltalk. Both Java and
Smalltalk are pretty simple in their core language elements.
When you compare the APIs, Smalltalk does have a much more voluminous
set of standard classes to use, but it also has a *much* better, IMHO,
way of navigating through them and learning about them -- the system
browser. The Smalltalk system browser has the complete source for
the standard classes with sort-of a web-like interface. I found
Smalltalk really easy to learn because I could search through the
browser to see how to use a class I was interested in. For instance
if i wanted a button but wasn't sure how to initialize it, draw it,
etc., I could search for other classes which used buttons and see
how they did it. Also, the Smalltalk browser is an integral part of
the runtime system. you can highlight some code, click a button
and it will get interpreted on the fly without having to do anything
from the command line. So it;s really fast to try something new and
see how it works.
I haven't seen something like this for Java yet. Does something like
it exist? The HTML Java API doc at www.javasoft.com is the closest
thing I've seen, but it only gives a spec-level view. you can't
search for examples of use.
Chris
cdaly@rational.com
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