> Needless to say this is not how Smalltalk works.
I've always gotten the strangest feeling that Mr. Kay made up the distinction between Smalltalk and later OOP languages after the fact. I think this is precisely the reason I get that feeling: because despite what Mr. Kay says about Smalltalk and OO, programming in Smalltalk feels very much like programming in any other OO language.
I don't mean any disrespect to Mr. Kay. I give him the benefit of the doubt in assuming that his intended language was different from the language that actually materialized, likely due to implementation issues. In that regard, as a language designer I can very much sympathize.
I've always gotten the strangest feeling that Mr. Kay made up the distinction between Smalltalk and later OOP languages after the fact. I think this is precisely the reason I get that feeling: because despite what Mr. Kay says about Smalltalk and OO, programming in Smalltalk feels very much like programming in any other OO language.
I don't mean any disrespect to Mr. Kay. I give him the benefit of the doubt in assuming that his intended language was different from the language that actually materialized, likely due to implementation issues. In that regard, as a language designer I can very much sympathize.