On to Smalltalk [Paperback]

Patrick Henry Winston (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201498278 | ISBN-13: 978-0201498271 | Publication Date: September 13, 1997 | Edition: 1

This book is written in the same clear and concise style that has made Winston's Java, C++, C, and LISP books popular among students and programmers who want to add new languages to their repertoires. Following the unique and well-received approach developed in his other books, the author here gets readers up and running quickly and effectively in Smalltalk. Each easily digested section of the book adds new capabilities to a short, yet representative Smalltalk program, and natural questions that arise in learning a new language are effectively answered in a natural order. Much of the book applies to all versions of Smalltalk; where a specific interface is needed, the examples refer to Smalltalk Express, a version of Smalltalk freely available on the Web from ParcPlace Systems. Throughout the book, Winston shows why Smalltalk is the language of choice when you need power tools for writing object-oriented programs or for building graphical user interfaces.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Learn the language with power tools for program writing and interface building This book is written in the clear and concise style that has made Winston's Java, C, C++, and Lisp books popular among programmers who want to add new languages to their repertoire. Using this book, you learn Smalltalk quickly and effectively, and you learn why Smalltalk is the language of choice when you need power tools for writing object-oriented programs and building graphical user interfaces.

The Knowledge You Need

Each section adds new capabilities to a short, yet representative Smalltalk program. One such program displays the calorie content of a food selected by a button click.

As you see the program evolve, you learn how to experiment using the workspace and the transcript, benefit from procedure abstraction, define classes that inherit instance variables and methods, benefit from data abstraction, design classes and class hierarchies, store values in class variables, store values in dictionaries, work with arrays and collections, use time-sorted collections in simulations, work with dates and times, program defensively, exchange software, create points and rectangles, draw lines and display text in windows, connect display elements, display list boxes, menus, and file dialog windows, develop a graphical user interface using a GUI builder, work with an industrial-strength smalltalk, work with the model-viewer-controler paradigm, and much, much more.

Winston's proven approach

• Based on extensive teaching experience
• Features easily digested segments
• Illustrates ideas via short, yet complete, programs
• Answers your natural questions in a natural order
• Stresses principles of good programming practice
• Recapitulates key points as if--then rules

0201498278B04062001

About the Author

About Patrick Henry Winston

Well-known author Patrick Henry Winston teaches computer science and directs the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.

0201498278AB04062001

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley; 1 edition (September 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201498278
• ISBN-13: 978-0201498271
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,658,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent no nonsense introduction to Smalltalk., November 13, 1997

By 

Frank Caggiano - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On to Smalltalk (Paperback)

After poking around at the edges of Smalltalk over the years I decided to really devote some time to learning the language. I purchased the book, downloaded (for free) Smalltalk Express and opened to page one.

For those readers familiar with Patrick Henry Winston from his Lisp and AI books it will come as no surprise to learn that he has done it again, this time with Smalltalk. There is no extraneous material here to get in the way. The reader is guided up through the language given just the right amount of information at each step, building on what came before. By books end your developing in the GUI builder and on your way.

This book is not for the novice programmer and some familiarity with object oriented programming would be helpful. But for the experienced programmer looking to learn Smalltalk or looking to explore true object oriented concepts this book is recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of it's kind!, February 12, 2001

By 

"hallmd" (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On to Smalltalk (Paperback)

This is an excellent book. Writien and organized in a style that is uncommonly clear and concise for an book of it's type. Winston explores the basic features of Smalltalk while continually implementing them in a workable application throughout the book. This is an extremely effective instruction technique. I recommend this book not only to Comp Sci students, but to professionals who want to add Smalltalk to their skillset.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Gentle Introduction to Smalltalk and OO Programming, June 11, 2004

By 

David "I read science fiction and fantasy, bu... (LAUREL, MD, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On to Smalltalk (Paperback)

This book is basically a Smalltalk primer, with a lot of OO-design principles embedded in the lessons. While useful to anyone who is new to Smalltalk, it is written with the assumption that the reader is not only completely new to Smalltalk, but also to Object-Oriented programming and possibly to programming in general. Thus, the lessons contain not only an introduction to Smalltalk syntax and grammar, but also to basic OO concepts like inheritance, aggregation, and data abstraction, as well as iterators, recursion, and other basic programming techniques. If you are an experienced programmer new to Smalltalk, some of the programming style advice may seem elementary, but you will still get a good introduction to the Smalltalk language. This would also be an excellent book for a basic Object-Oriented programming class. The author very deliberately tries to teach good OO style, and what is learned here will still be applicable if the reader goes on to work with Java or C++.

What prevented me from giving the book five stars was:

(1) It is a little bit dated. The book mostly uses Smalltalk Express or Cincom's VisualWorks in its examples. Both of these are still freely available, and there are only a few small changes in the current versions from what is described in the book. However, one does need to be aware that Smalltalk is not a dead language, it is still being actively developed, and this book is now over 6 years old.

(2) The style is a little different. The material is divided into logical task-oriented chapters that build on one another (How to Create Classes and Instances, How to Define Classes that Inherit Instance Variables and Methods, etc.), but each chapter is written as a series of numbered paragraphs as little "micro-lessons." I did not find it hard to follow, but it may not be to everyone's tastes.

Again, this is a primer for beginners, aimed at teaching Object Oriented programming style as much as Smalltalk. If you are an experienced programmer, especially with OO experience, looking to learn Smalltalk in a hurry, this may not be the most suitable book for you, as the language's keywords and idioms and syntax are introduced bit by bit throughout the book, and there is no concise reference guide.