[Tutor] Re: Factory classes (etc)

[alan.gauld@bt.com]

> Does anybody actually _use_ SmallTalk for production code, 

Yes, its heavily used in the financial sector.
Also at least two airlines that I know of use it 
internally.

I also know of an electronic test gear company who 
produce all their control software in it.

One of Smalltalks big advantages for them is its portability. 
The same image file can be run on any system supporting 
the interpreter - like Javas JVM but much more reliable!

> those teaching languages that revolutionized various concepts 
> but never made it in the market 

Oddly enough I don't think Smalltalk really caught on as 
a teaching language, it has been more a research and 
prototyping tool in my experience.


> Are there any common patterns that are missing by today's 
> standards? 

There are a few new ones on the patterns web site but 
the most common by far are those in the book.

> I can't believe that seven years later, the GoF is still state of the 
> art...

Pretty much. Its one of the testaments to the quality 
that they pretty much got it right. It hasn't needed to change.

Alan g.
Author of the 'Learning to Program' web site
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld