Art and Science of Smalltalk, The [Textbook Binding]

Simon Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0133713458 | ISBN-13: 978-0133713459 | Edition: 1

This practical text provides an introduction to programming in Smalltalk, and explains the most efficient ways to think about and work with the system. Split into two parts, the first part covers the important technical background for programmers and managers, while the second part introduces some of the basic philosophy of Smalltalk. This text aims to demystify the transition from conventional programming to programming with Smalltalk. It includes a step-by-step guide, taking the reader through the basics, via object-oriented programming with the Smalltalk language and its development environment, right up to designing, coding and debugging programs.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This highly readable and practical book provides an effective introduction to programming in Smalltalk, and explains the most efficient ways to think about and work with the system. The Art and Science of Smalltalk aims to demystify the transition from conventional programming to programming with Smalltalk. It includes a step-by-step guide, taking the reader through the basics, via object-oriented programming with Smalltalk language and its development environment, right up to designing, coding and debugging your own programs.

From the Back Cover

Split into two parts, the first part (the Science of Smalltalk) Covers the important technical background for programmers and managers, while the second part (the Art of Small talk)introduces some of the basic philosophy of Smalltalk. It includes a step-by-step guide taking the reader through the basics, via object-oriented programming with the Smalltalk language and its development environment, right up to designing, coding and debugging your own programs. Chapters on many of the basic tools, including the Smalltalk debugger, plus an introduction to Smalltalk's model-view-controller (NVC) mechanism. Essential reading for anyone who is involved in moving up from a 'traditional' lang uage such as C, COBOL, Pascal or BASIC, to an object-oriented language such as Smalltalk.

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Product Details

• Textbook Binding: 250 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (May 11, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0133713458
• ISBN-13: 978-0133713459
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,869,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All the complexities of Smalltalk amazingly simplified!, January 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Art and Science of Smalltalk, The (Textbook Binding)

Simon Lewis's book "The Art and Science of Smalltalk" has to be one of the best books on Smalltalk programming I have ever read. After spending months reading many other books on the subject and still not getting a clear, concise description of some important Smalltalk constructs, I could not believe how incredibly readable this book was. Lewis has managed to explain in a few pages what took other authors multiple chapters.

In addition, diagrams and figures are only used when they will actually help the reader to understand a concept. Unlike other texts references to figures and diagrams occur in close proximity to them rather than twenty pages before or after.

The book is divided into two parts which address different but equally important aspects of programming in Smalltalk. The first section deals with the "science" of Smalltak and covers the development environment, class library, and dependency mechanisms (Model-View-Controller Architecture). The second section gives sage advice on the "art" of Smalltalk. This includes sections on how to best utilize Smalltalk in an environment of extensive reuse, management of Smalltalk projects, and debugging techniques.

I would rate this book as a must have for Smalltalk programmers at any level. If I were to teach a course in Smalltalk this book would be required. Lewis should be commended for his command of the Smalltalk language and his eloquence in explaining it to others.<P

4.0 out of 5 stars Smalltalk overview, May 9, 2010

By 

mpez0 (Annandale, VA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Art and Science of Smalltalk, The (Textbook Binding)

Very good overview of the Smalltalk system and how do design, structure and debug in Smalltalk. Excellent introduction and side reference as I go through examples and tutorials from elsewhere. Good explanations of *why* some things are done the way they are and introductions to some of the unique or nearly so features of Smalltalk.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent OOP book, March 9, 2008

By 

W. Ghost (Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art and Science of Smalltalk, The (Textbook Binding)

The book is well organized, well written and clear. It's not a "programming language book": it will actually show you some great ideas about object orientation. The first half of the book teaches you Smalltalk (and the model-view-controller framework) and also helps show how important this language is to you if you *really* are into OOP. The second part is about best practices in design, implementation, testing and debugging.

The book focuses on VisualWorks Smalltalk, but it is OK if you are using some other Smalltalk implementation such as Squeak, for example, since most of the time it won't get into incompatible details.

I do recommend this to anyone interested in programming, and very strongly to those interested in OOP in general (not just Smalltalk).