[Edu-sig] Version 0.2.03 of PataPata released (adds Jython/Swing support)

[kirby urner]

On 8/7/06, Paul D. Fernhout <pdfernhout at kurtz-fernhout.com> wrote:
> Sorry, that first paragraph should read:
>
> ... Using the first signifies [NOT] having been part of that community for
> any length of
> time. :-) Now, that capitalization of "SmallTalk" may actually [MAKE THE]
> most
> sense, because by the [community's] own common coding conventions it is
> actually the proper way to capitalize it if you think of it as two words
> "Small" and "Talk" ...
>
> --Paul Fernhout

Yeah, sort of got that.  Hadn't meant to imply any insider status re
sm community or anything, just that I'd gotten some professional help
with it a long time ago, when trying to do a first pass on the Fuller
Archive (later moved from BFI to Stanford, rendering the question moot
for the time being).

However, I have had many hours in an intimate setting with Kay
himself, and so am not shy about stating what I think were his clearly
expressed views e.g. (a) we haven't yet done enough to empower
children (adults abuse their authority by dumbing it all down too
much) and (b) we should have killed off Smalltalk long ago, but people
since Kay have generally been too stupid to come up with a better
language (victims of (a)), with maybe the exception of Guido.

With PataPata, it seems you're unhappy with Python being a crystal
clear implementation of a simple paradigm, and want to schmoo it into
something for which its ill-suited, but which Self and/or Smalltalk
may handle quite well.  You'd like to ruin Python in other words.  Or
so it sounds to me.  But I don't worry about it, as I know Guido well
enough to know he's ruthless about keeping Python on track, at least
through this 2.x series.  But maybe he'll have a mid-life crisis and
decide we should all be learning Smalltalk instead.

Kirby