Squeak: A Quick Trip to ObjectLand [Paperback]

Gene Korienek (Author), Tom Wrensch (Author), Doug Dechow (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201731142 | ISBN-13: 978-0201731149 | Publication Date: December 23, 2001

With Squeak, developers have a free, complete, portable, high-performance, open source Smalltalk-80 implementation whose virtual machine is written entirely in Smalltalk, making it simple to debug, analyze, and change your code. This book's unique format and bite-size structure makes it easy to learn Squeak -- regardless of your previous experience with objects. Squeak: A Quick Trip to ObjectLand overcomes the traditional Smalltalk learning curve by presenting Squeak in the format of a running conversation between a programmer and an imaginary "Object Wizard." You'll start with the basics of object development, then learn key Squeak concepts that let you write real software almost immediately. Next, build your skills incrementally, mastering numbers, debugging and testing, the class hierarchy, collections, Booleans and blocks, conditional execution, iteration and recursion, streams and files, and more. For every developer who wishes to learn Squeak -- regardless of previous experience.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Squeak programming language, an open and portable Smalltalk-80 implementation, is gaining wide acceptance as an agile solution for high quality computation. This tutorial provides a complete introduction to Squeak and advanced topics for programmers interested in mastering the language and implementing programming solutions with it.

Both informative and conversational, this unique how-to guide follows a dialogue between programmer Jim and a Wizard from ObjectLand--allowing the reader to easily understand and implement solutions using Squeak's object-oriented paradigm. Beginning with an overview of object-oriented fundamentals, Squeak--A Quick Trip to ObjectLand then builds on the basics and progresses to more complex language concepts. Throughout the book, topics, goals, and "words of wisdom" are clearly outlined, allowing any programmer to gain a complete understanding of the Squeak programming environment at their own pace.

Topic coverage includes:

• An overview of fundamental object-oriented concepts: object, class, message, method, and more
• The basic building blocks of the Squeak programming language
• Successful strategies for debugging and testing
• Booleans and blocks
• Iteration and recursion
• Code writing: style, comment, convention
• A glimpse into the future of Squeak

With Squeak--A Quick Trip to ObjectLand, developers have the most unique learning environment available for this practical, productive, and portable programming environment.

0201731142B11052001

About the Author

Gene Korienek is Chief Scientist at 3 Sigma Robotics. As a Smalltalk expert, he has consulted and designed code for many Fortune 100 companies.

Tom Wrensch has been in the computer profession for twenty years and has developed, taught, and mentored in Smalltalk for multiple organizations. Tom and Gene are coauthors of A Quick Trip to ObjectLand: Object-Oriented Programming with Smalltalk/V® (Prentice-Hall, 1994).

Doug Dechow is an experienced software engineer proficient in Squeak, Smalltalk, JAVA, and C++. He is currently a doctoral student in the Computer Science Department at Oregon State University.

0201731142AB11052001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (December 23, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201731142
• ISBN-13: 978-0201731149
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,565,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introduction to Squeak and smalltalk., April 15, 2002

By 

Michael Vanier (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Squeak: A Quick Trip to ObjectLand (Paperback)

Even though I was familiar with both the smalltalk computer language and the Squeak smalltalk environment, I bought this book because I was intrigued by its structure, which is basically an extended dialogue between a naive user named "Jim" and virtual guides called the "Objective Wizard" and the "Objective Librarian". I was hoping to see a smalltalk equivalent to Friedman and Felleisen's magnificent book "The Little Schemer", which used a similar format to introduce the scheme programming language. Well, almost any book would be a disappointment after TLS, and this book certainly isn't in the same league (but it doesn't try to be). As an introduction to object-oriented programming concepts, to the smalltalk programming language, and to the Squeak implementation of smalltalk, this book is first-rate and well worth buying, especially for those who have never programmed in smalltalk before. It is quite elementary and should be graspable by almost anyone with a basic understanding of computer concepts (including people who have never programmed before). If you're coming to this book with no experience in smalltalk but with experience in another object-oriented programming language (e.g. C++ or java), be warned: smalltalk is probably the most extreme example of an OO language in that _everything_ is an object (even simple data types like integers and booleans, and even blocks of code). This imposes a conceptual barrier that the authors do an exceptionally good job of helping the reader through (or at least so it seemed to me, but then, I already knew all this material). The book is quite limited in its scope, and you'll need to read at least another book or two before you really understand smalltalk (Mark Guzdial's books are good next choices if you're using Squeak). Also, the book has a cutesy style which is occasionally irritating, especially when the "Jim" character tries to hit on the "Objective Librarian". This is supposed to humanize the book, but goes a bit far for my taste. However, this is only a tiny blemish on an otherwise excellent book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An unstructured introduction to Smalltalk, not for everyone, January 19, 2003

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Squeak: A Quick Trip to ObjectLand (Paperback)

Smalltalk is a language that I have played with on and off over the years, but have never approached with a great deal of seriousness. This spring, I will be teaching a course in programming language concepts for the first time. Therefore, when I received this book, I was happy for the chance to refresh my knowledge of the language. Squeak is an open source implementation of Smalltalk and it is very easy to use. The CD with the book contains an implementation of Squeak and it is possible to download it from the website ...BR> Written in the style of a chat between the user and a Smalltalk objective wizard, the conversation steps you through the basics of object-oriented programming, as implemented in Smalltalk. It is not a typical book on how to program, to get up to full speed in Smalltalk, you will have to find some additional material to work through. Nevertheless, it works very well as an introduction to the structure of the Smalltalk language.
To people who are accustomed to reading traditional introductory programming books, this one may turn them off. While there is some of the traditional sequence that starts with a "Hello World" program and goes through variables, conditional expressions and loops; file I/O and user-defined data types, it lacks much of the standard structure. The authors rely on the chat method sending messages to shift the knowledge from source object to target object.
If you are interested in a basic introduction to the Smalltalk language and can tolerate a conversational approach to learning, then this book will work for you. However, if your interest is in learning more than the basics or you prefer a structured approach to learning, then this book will probably not serve your needs.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for beginners, provides for fun baby steps., July 14, 2005

By 

coffee_fan (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Squeak: A Quick Trip to ObjectLand (Paperback)

I will be subjective on this: If you are a beginner on Smalltalk/Squeak and want to wet your feet in an amicable way, this is a great book. In contrast to other more advanced books, this one includes a CD which has the Squeak 3.0 image, somewhat dated but follows exactly what the book is talking about. Anyway, you can always download the latest and greatest Squeak form http://squeak.org.

Call me lame but when I am learning something from scratch I need guidance and I like to make fun baby steps which take me in the right direction with the least bore or frustration. You will be pleasantly surprised that this book also covers a lot of ground.

I am giving this book 5 stars :-).