why is python better than eg. smalltalk??

[Isaac Gouy]

"Daniel Dittmar" <daniel.dittmar at sap.com> wrote in message news:<c538bu$qok$1 at news1.wdf.sap-ag.de>...

> When I started using Python, there were two reasons:
> - no good free eimplementation of Smalltalk
> - Smalltalk doesn't scale well to small tasks
> 
> Point 1 has probably changed with Squeak. But I'd really have to use it for
> a while to be confident enough to inflict it upon others.

Yes Smalltalk has been around since the days when software was sold as
a product, so the main Smalltalk implementations are commercial - IBM,
VisualWorks (VisualWorks is available gratis for non-commercial use),
Dolphin.

GNU Smalltalk is a fine open-source implementation for POSIX.
Pocket Smalltalk is a fine open-source implementation for Palm.


> Don't know about point 2: When I had a new version of some small 'script', I
> had only the alternatives
> * to distribute full images

Most Smalltalks provide for distribution of a stripped compressed
image.
Several Smalltalks provide for distribution of an EXE on MSWin.

> * to distribute source which the users had to integrate into their images
> Maybe this has changed as well.

It was never true ;-)
The commonplace approach is to have the Smalltalk runtime check a
known location for source code patches, and then automatically update.