Blaine Buxton: Positronic Vibrations From Alto Dorado

If You're Not Now, You Never Were
Alright, I left the Smalltalk world professionally 4 years ago and since then, I've called myself an "ex-Smalltalker". I realized this morning that I've never been an "ex-Smalltalker" though. Now, would I say this? I mean, I get paid for the Java and JavaScript that I write, but when I go home at night what do I fire up to let my imagination run wild? You guessed it, SMALLTALK. Hell, I even called my latest incarnation of my music project, Alto Dorado after the first two machines to run Smalltalk. I've never left the community keeping a close eye. So, why did I leave Smalltalk professionally? Well, you can guess. I thought companies were running away from it and toward Java. I didn't want to be a dinosaur at such an early age. So, I did what I thought was the right thing even though I knew Java was an inferior language. I look back at that decision now and regret it. I've never considered myself a Java developer. I just never felt the pride to label myself as such. I feel proud to call myself a Smalltalker. So, in short, I no longer refer to myself as an "ex". I use Smalltalk in all of my side projects and hopefully soon I will be again using it full time. I can dream can't I? I envy all of you who use it on a daily basis at work. I tend to sneak it in via scripting here and there at work. But, most of the Smalltalking is done on the weekends and when I get home. I don't know why I wrote this blog entry per se, I have just recently come to the conclusion that I am and will always be a Smalltalker until I find something better. I've tried many languages and nothing gives wonderment like Smalltalk except maybe Lisp (but, even it doesn't come close). I'll end this entry with "Go Smalltalk!"

posted by Blaine at 10:14 AM |