Smalltalk 之父亲述编程范式起源
推荐指数 27.0 NO. 016 · 2026.10.07
发布2026/10/06Score98Comments48
为什么值得看
Alan Kay 1993年撰写的 Smalltalk 早期历史论文，记录了面向对象编程、GUI、鼠标交互等概念的诞生过程。对理解现代编程语言设计和人机交互范式有重要参考价值。
编辑判断
这篇论文的价值不在技术细节，而在 Kay 对"为什么当时会这么想"的复盘。他明确承认 Smalltalk 的灵感来自 LISP、SIMULA 和 Sketchpad，而非凭空创造——这种诚实对当下 AI 创业者有警示意义：很多被包装成"革命性创新"的东西，本质是旧思想的重新组合。
Kay 在文中反复批评当时工业界对"对象"的误读，把消息传递简化为函数调用。这直接预言了 Java/C++ 后期的问题。如果你在设计新编程语言或 AI Agent 的协作协议，Kay 对"消息语义"的坚持值得重新思考。
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意见分歧 43 条评论
核心争论：Smalltalk 是生不逢时的伟大语言，还是注定失败的'footgun'
Just yesterday I was talking with a friend who works at Instantiations [1]. They were founded in 1988, and still ship a new release every year of Smalltalk. What I find fascinating is that customers are actively building on it and seem happy. [1] https://www.instantiations.com/
I really wish that there was a license/version/build marketed to hobbyists: >Call or Email for Pricing and the upgrade pricing is four figures (per set per year I'm guessing?). Ages ago, I actually bought a Smalltalk for Windows compiler, but never got around to doing anything with it (whi
Dad is true Smalltalk believer, used to use visual age, instantiations etc but is a happy user of pharo nowadays which is free, opensource and under active development so could give that one a try.