Smalltalk and object orientation

Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to computer science (68-01) Theory of programming languages (68N15) Theory of software (68Nxx)

Review text

This book is conceived as an introductory course in Object-Oriented (O-O) and a ``hands-on approach to Smalltalk (and VisualWorks in particular). The six main parts of the book are devoted to the following topics: Part 1 (Introduction to O-O) considers various programming paradigms which have preceded O-O, examines the primary concepts of O-O and gives an illustrative, constructive example for the O-O system design. Part 2 (The Smalltalk Language) describes Smalltalk (within VisualWorks) as a programming language, as a programming system, and as a development environment. There are considered the Smalltalk building blocks, constructs, control and iteration, collection classes, streams and files, magnitude class hierarchy, etc. Part 3 (O-O Design) deals with O-O analysis and significant methods in O-O design. The Unified Modeling Language, Dynamic Modeling and Deployment, and Object Modeling Technique are introduced and discussed. Since O-O systems need more testing than traditional programming. Part 4 (Testing and Style) investigates the effects that class (unit) testing, object integration and system testing have on inheritance, encapsulation, polymorphism and dynamic typing. Part 5 (Graphical Interfaces in Smalltalk) introduces the perform and dependency mechanisms, Model-View-Controller architecture, GUI construction tools and Visual organizer. Finally, Part 6 (Further Smalltalk) develops three important topics in Smalltalk: memory management and garbage collection, concurrent processes, and a metaclass framework in Smalltalk. An interesting discussion and a prospective analysis on the future of O-O programming technology is provided by the ending chapter of the book. Appendix A contains a description of the Smalltalk syntax. In sum, John Hunt's book succeeds to prove that Smalltalk is not only (the first O-O language and) an important O-O training environment but, with its fast increasing rate of development, Smalltalk is currently one of the most commercially successful programming languages.

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