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{{About|the programming language||Small talk (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox programming language
| name = Smalltalk
| logo = [[File:Smalltalk80book.jpg]]
| caption = ''Smalltalk-80: The Language and its Implementation'', a.k.a. the "Blue book", an original book on the language
| paradigm = [[object-oriented programming|object-oriented]]
| year = {{start date|1972}} (development began in 1969)
| designer = [[Alan Kay]], [[Dan Ingalls]], [[Adele Goldberg (computer scientist)|Adele Goldberg]]
| developer = [[Alan Kay]], [[Dan Ingalls]], [[Adele Goldberg (computer scientist)|Adele Goldberg]], Ted Kaehler, [[Diana Merry]], Scott Wallace, [[L. Peter Deutsch|Peter Deutsch]] and [[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]]
| latest release version = Smalltalk-80 version 2
| latest release date = 1980
| typing = [[strong typing|strong]], [[dynamic typing|dynamic]]
| implementations = [[Pharo]], [[Squeak]], [[GNU Smalltalk]], [[VisualWorks]], [[Dolphin Smalltalk]], Smalltalk/X, VA Smalltalk
| dialects = 
| influenced by = [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]], [[Simula]], [[Logo (programming language)|Logo]], [[Sketchpad]]
| influenced = [[Objective-C]], [[Self (programming language)|Self]], [[Object REXX]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[PHP]] 5, [[Logtalk]], [[Dylan (programming language)|Dylan]], [[AppleScript]], [[Lisaac]], [[NewtonScript]], [[Lasso (programming language)|Lasso]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]], [[Groovy (programming language)|Groovy]], [[Scala (programming language)|Scala]], [[Perl 6]], [[Common Lisp Object System]], [[Falcon (programming language)|Falcon]], [[Io (programming language)|Io]], [[Ioke (programming language)|Ioke]], [[Fancy (programming language)|Fancy]], [[Dart (programming language)|Dart]]
| operating system = [[Cross-platform|Cross-platform (multi-platform)]]
| wikibooks = Smalltalk
}}

'''Smalltalk''' is an [[object-oriented programming|object-oriented]], [[dynamically typed]], [[reflection (computer science)|reflective]] [[computer programming|programming]] [[programming language|language]]. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis."<ref name="History">{{cite web|first=Alan|last=Kay|url=http://gagne.homedns.org/~tgagne/contrib/EarlyHistoryST.html|title=The Early History of Smalltalk|accessdate=2007-09-13}}</ref> It was designed and created in part for [[education]]al use, more so for [[constructionist learning]], at the Learning Research Group (LRG)  of  [[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]] by [[Alan Kay]], [[Dan Ingalls]], [[Adele Goldberg (computer scientist)|Adele Goldberg]], Ted Kaehler, Scott Wallace, and others during the 1970s.

The language was first generally released as Smalltalk-80. Smalltalk-like languages are in continuing active development, and have gathered loyal communities of users around them. ANSI Smalltalk was ratified in 1998 and represents the standard version of Smalltalk.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smalltalk.org/versions/ANSIStandardSmalltalk.html |title=Smalltalk.org&#153 &#124; versions &#124; ANSIStandardSmalltalk.html |publisher=Smalltalk.org |date= |accessdate=2013-06-25}}</ref>

== History ==
There are a large number of Smalltalk variants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smalltalk.org/versions|title=Versions|publisher=Smalltalk.org|accessdate=2007-09-13}}</ref> The unqualified word ''Smalltalk'' is often used to indicate the Smalltalk-80 language, the first version to be made publicly available and created in 1980.

Smalltalk was the product of research led by [[Alan Kay]] at [[Xerox Palo Alto Research Center]] (PARC); Alan Kay designed most of the early Smalltalk versions, which [[Dan Ingalls]] implemented. The first version, known as Smalltalk-71, was created by Ingalls in a few mornings on a bet that a programming language based on the idea of [[message passing]] inspired by [[Simula]] could be implemented in "a page of code."<ref name="History"/> A later variant actually used for research work is now known as Smalltalk-72 and influenced the development of the [[Actor model]]. Its [[Actor model#Smalltalk|syntax and execution model]] were very different from modern Smalltalk variants.

After significant revisions which froze some aspects of execution semantics to gain performance (by adopting a [[Simula]]-like class [[Inheritance (computer science)|inheritance]] model of execution), Smalltalk-76 was created.  This system had a [[Development environment (software development process)|development environment]] featuring most of the now familiar tools, including a class library code browser/editor. Smalltalk-80 added [[metaclass]]es, to help maintain the "everything is an object" (except private instance variables) paradigm by associating properties and behavior with individual classes, and even primitives such as integer and boolean values (for example, to support different ways of creating instances).This was supposed to be the first object-oriented language.

Smalltalk-80 was the first language variant made available outside of PARC, first as Smalltalk-80 Version 1, given to a small number of firms ([[Hewlett-Packard]], [[Apple Computer]], [[Tektronix]], and [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]]) and universities ([[UC Berkeley]]) for "peer review" and implementation on their platforms. Later (in 1983) a general availability implementation, known as Smalltalk-80 Version 2, was released as an image (platform-independent file with object definitions) and a [[virtual machine]] specification. ANSI Smalltalk has been the standard language reference since 1998.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smalltalk.org/versions/ANSIStandardSmalltalk.html|title=ANSI Smalltalk Standard|publisher=Smalltalk.org|accessdate=2007-09-13}}</ref>

Two of the currently popular Smalltalk implementation variants are descendants of those original Smalltalk-80 images. [[Squeak]] is an [[open source]] implementation derived from Smalltalk-80 Version 1 by way of Apple Smalltalk. [[VisualWorks]] is derived from Smalltalk-80 version 2 by way of Smalltalk-80 2.5 and ObjectWorks (both products of ParcPlace Systems, a Xerox PARC spin-off company formed to bring Smalltalk to the market). As an interesting link between generations, in 2002 Vassili Bykov implemented Hobbes, a virtual machine running Smalltalk-80 inside VisualWorks.<ref>[http://wiki.cs.uiuc.edu/VisualWorks/Smalltalk-80+in+a+box Hobbes]</ref> ([[Dan Ingalls]] later ported Hobbes to Squeak.)

During the late 1980s to mid-1990s, Smalltalk environments—including support, training and add-ons—were sold by two competing organizations: ParcPlace Systems and Digitalk, both California based. ParcPlace Systems tended to focus on the Unix/Sun Microsystems market, while Digitalk focused on Intel-based PCs running Microsoft Windows or IBM's OS/2. Both firms struggled to take Smalltalk mainstream due to Smalltalk's substantial memory needs, limited run-time performance, and initial lack of supported connectivity to [[SQL]]-based relational database servers.  While the high price of ParcPlace Smalltalk limited its market penetration to mid-sized and large commercial organizations, the Digitalk products initially tried to reach a wider audience with a lower price. IBM initially supported the Digitalk product, but then entered the market with a Smalltalk product in 1995 called VisualAge/Smalltalk.  Easel introduced Enfin at this time on Windows and OS/2.  Enfin became far more popular in Europe, as IBM introduced it into IT shops before their development of IBM Smalltalk (later VisualAge).  Enfin was later acquired by [[Cincom Systems]], and is now sold under the name [[ObjectStudio]], and is part of the Cincom Smalltalk product suite.

In 1995, ParcPlace and Digitalk merged into ParcPlace-Digitalk and then rebranded in 1997 as ObjectShare, located in Irvine, CA. ObjectShare ([[NASDAQ]]: OBJS) was traded publicly until 1999, when it was delisted and dissolved. The merged firm never managed to find an effective response to Java as to market positioning, and by 1997 its owners were looking to sell the business. In 1999, Seagull Software acquired the ObjectShare Java development lab (including the original Smalltalk/V and Visual Smalltalk development team), and still owns VisualSmalltalk, although worldwide distribution rights for the Smalltalk product remained with ObjectShare who then sold them to [[Cincom]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seagullsoftware.com/about/history.html#1999|title=History|publisher=Seagull Software|accessdate=2007-09-13}}</ref> VisualWorks was sold to [[Cincom]] and is now part of Cincom Smalltalk. Cincom has backed Smalltalk strongly, releasing multiple new versions of VisualWorks and ObjectStudio each year since 1999.

[[Cincom]], [[Gemstone Systems|Gemstone]] and Object Arts, plus other vendors continue to sell Smalltalk environments. IBM has 'end of life'd VisualAge Smalltalk having in the late 1990s decided to back Java and it is, {{as of|2006|lc=on}}, supported by Instantiations, Inc.<ref>[http://www.instantiations.com/company/ibm-transition.html VisualAge Smalltalk Transition FAQ]</ref> which has renamed the product VA&nbsp;Smalltalk and released several new versions. The open [[Squeak]] implementation has an active community of developers, including many of the original Smalltalk community, and has recently been used to provide the Etoys environment on the [[OLPC]] project, a toolkit for developing collaborative applications [[Croquet Project]], and the [[Open Cobalt]] virtual world application. [[GNU Smalltalk]] is a [[free software]] implementation of a derivative of Smalltalk-80 from the [[GNU]] project. Last but not least [[Pharo|Pharo Smalltalk]] (a fork of [[Squeak]] oriented towards research and use in commercial environments) a new and clean MIT licensed open source Smalltalk that brings fresh ideas and interest into the Smalltalk market and scene.

A significant development, that has spread across all current Smalltalk environments, is the increasing usage of two web frameworks, [[Seaside (software)|Seaside]] and [[AIDA/Web]], to simplify the building of complex web applications. Seaside has seen considerable market interest with Cincom, Gemstone and Instantiations incorporating and extending it.

==Influences==
Smalltalk was the first true object-oriented programming language.<ref>The Simula language was also object-oriented and preceded (and was acknowledged as an influence on) Smalltalk but it was a simulation language, not a general purpose programming language.</ref> Smalltalk was also one of the most influential programming languages. Virtually all of the object-oriented languages that came after: Flavors,<ref>{{cite web|last=Cannon|first=Howard|title=Flavors A non-hierarchical approach to object-oriented prog ramming|url=http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/MIT/nnnfla1-20040122.pdf|work=softwarepreservation.org|accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref> CLOS, [[Objective C]], [[C++]], [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]],<ref>{{cite web|title=What's Been the Most Influential Programming Languag?|url=http://www.quora.com/Whats-been-the-most-influential-programming-language|work=quora.com|accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref>  Python,  [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]]<ref>{{cite web|title=About Ruby|url=https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/about/|work=ruby-lang.org|accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref>  and many others, were all influenced by Smalltalk. Smalltalk was also one of the most popular languages with the [[Agile Methods]], [[Rapid application development|Rapid Prototyping]], and [[Software design pattern|Software Patterns]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Where Did Refactoring Come From?|url=http://sourcemaking.com/refactoring/where-did-refactoring-come-from|work=sourcemaking.com|accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref>  communities. The highly productive environment provided by Smalltalk platforms made them ideal for rapid, iterative development.

Smalltalk emerged from a larger program of [[Advanced Research Projects Agency|ARPA]] funded research that in many ways defined the modern world of computing. In addition to Smalltalk working prototypes of things such as [[hypertext]], GUIs, [[multimedia]], the mouse, [[telepresence]], and the Internet were developed by ARPA researchers in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|title=DARPA / ARPA|url=http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_darpa.htm|work=livinginternet.com|accessdate=16 December 2013|quote=To meet this need, ARPA established the IPTO in 1962 with a mandate to build a survivable computer network to interconnect the DoD's main computers at the Pentagon, Cheyenne Mountain, and SAC HQ.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Engelbart's Role in Early Computer Networking|url=http://www.dougengelbart.org/firsts/internet.html|work=dougengelbart.org|accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref> Alan Kay (one of the inventors of Smalltalk) also described a tablet computer he called the [[Dynabook]] which was essentially a design for an iPad.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kay|first=Allen|title=The Early History of Smalltalk|url=http://gagne.homedns.org/~tgagne/contrib/EarlyHistoryST.html|work=gagne.homedns.org|accessdate=16 December 2013}}</ref>

Smalltalk environments were often the first to develop what are now common object-oriented software design patterns. One of the most popular is the Model-View-Controller pattern for User Interface design. The MVC pattern enables developers to have multiple consistent views of the same underlying data. It's ideal for software development environments, where there are various views (e.g., entity-relation, dataflow, object model, etc.) of the same underlying specification.  Also, for simulations or games where the underlying model may be viewed from various angles and levels of abstraction.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Krasner|first=Glen|coauthors=Stephen Pope|title=A Cookbook for Using the Model-View-Controller User Interface Paradigm in Smalltalk -80|journal=Journal of Object-Oriented Programming|date=August–September 1988}}</ref>

In addition to the MVC pattern the Smalltalk language and environment were tremendously influential in the history of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and the What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) user interface, font editors, and desktop metaphors for UI design.  The powerful built-in debugging and object inspection tools that came with Smalltalk environments set the standard for all the Integrated Development Environments, starting with Lisp Machine environments, that came after.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our Influence|url=http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/main/about-us/the-big-influence-of-smalltalk/|work=cincomsmalltalk.com|accessdate=16 December 2013}}</ref>

== Object-oriented programming ==
{{main|Object-oriented programming}}

As in other object-oriented languages, the central concept in Smalltalk-80 (but not in Smalltalk-72) is that of an ''object''. An object is always an ''instance'' of a ''class''. Classes are "blueprints" that describe the properties and behavior of their instances. For example, a GUI's window class might declare that windows have properties such as the label, the position and whether the window is visible or not. The class might also declare that instances support operations such as opening, closing, moving and hiding. Each particular window object would have its own values of those properties, and each of them would be able to perform operations defined by its class.

A Smalltalk object can do exactly three things:
# Hold state (references to other objects).
# Receive a message from itself or another object.
# In the course of processing a message, send messages to itself or another object.

The state an object holds is always private to that object. Other objects can query or change that state only by sending requests (messages) to the object to do so. Any message can be sent to any object: when a message is received, the receiver determines whether that message is appropriate. Alan Kay has commented that despite the attention given to objects, messaging is the most important concept in Smalltalk: "The big idea is 'messaging' -- that is what the kernel of Smalltalk/Squeak is all about (and it's something that was never quite completed in our Xerox PARC phase)."<ref>{{cite web |last= Kay |first= Alan |title= Prototypes vs Classes (e-mail on Squeak list) |url= http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/1998-October/017019.html |date= October 10, 1998}}</ref>

Smalltalk is a "pure" object-oriented programming language, meaning that, unlike [[Java (programming language)|Java]] and [[C++]], there is no difference between values which are objects and values which are primitive types. In Smalltalk, primitive values such as integers, booleans and characters are also objects, in the sense that they are instances of corresponding classes, and operations on them are invoked by sending messages. A programmer can change or extend (through [[Subclass (computer science)|subclassing]]) the classes that implement primitive values, so that new behavior can be defined for their instances—for example, to implement new control structures—or even so that their existing behavior will be changed. This fact is summarized in the commonly heard phrase "In Smalltalk everything is an object", which may be more accurately expressed as "all values are objects", as variables are not.

Since all values are objects, [[class (computer science)|classes]] themselves are also objects. Each class is an instance of the ''[[metaclass]]'' of that class. Metaclasses in turn are also objects, and are all instances of a class called Metaclass. [[#Code blocks|Code block]]s are also objects.<ref>{{cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Adele|title=Smalltalk-80 The Language|year=1989|publisher=Addison Wesley|isbn=0-201-13688-0|pages=31,75–89|coauthors=David Robson}}</ref>

== Reflection ==
[[Reflection (computer programming)|Reflection]] is a term that computer scientists apply to software programs that have the capability to inspect their own structure, for example their [[parse tree]] or [[datatypes]] of input and output parameters. Reflection was first primarily a feature of interpreted languages such as Smalltalk and Lisp. The fact that statements are interpreted means that the programs have access to information created as they were parsed and can often even modify their own structure.

Reflection is also a feature of having a meta-model as Smalltalk does. The meta-model is the model that describes the language itself and developers can use the meta-model to do things like walk through, examine, and modify the parse tree of an object. Or find all the instances of a certain kind of structure (e.g., all the instances of the Method class in the meta-model).

Smalltalk-80 is a totally reflective system, implemented in Smalltalk-80 itself.  Smalltalk-80 provides both structural and computational reflection.  Smalltalk is a structurally reflective system whose structure is defined by Smalltalk-80 objects.  The classes and methods that define the system are themselves objects and fully part of the system that they help define.  The Smalltalk compiler compiles textual source code into method objects, typically instances of <code>CompiledMethod</code>.  These get added to classes by storing them in a class's method dictionary.  The part of the class hierarchy that defines classes can add new classes to the system.  The system is extended by running Smalltalk-80 code that creates or defines classes and methods.  In this way a Smalltalk-80 system is a "living" system, carrying around the ability to extend itself at run time.

Since the classes are themselves objects, they can be asked questions such as "what methods do you implement?" or "what fields/slots/instance variables do you define?".  So objects can easily be inspected, copied, (de)[[serialization|serialized]] and so on with generic code that applies to any object in the system.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Clark|first=A.N.|title=Metaclasses and Reflection in Smalltalk|year=1997|url=http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.33.5755}}</ref>

Smalltalk-80 also provides computational reflection, the ability to observe the computational state of the system.  In languages derived from the original Smalltalk-80 the current activation of a method is accessible as an object named via a pseudo-variable (one of the six reserved words), <code>thisContext</code>.  By sending messages to <code>thisContext</code> a method activation can ask questions like "who sent this message to me".  These facilities make it possible to implement [[coroutine|co-routines]] or [[Prolog]]-like back-tracking without modifying the virtual machine.  The exception system is implemented using this facility.  One of the more interesting uses of this is in the [[Seaside (software)|Seaside]] web framework which relieves the programmer of dealing with the complexity of a Web Browser's back button by storing continuations for each edited page and switching between them as the user navigates a web site.  Programming the web server using Seaside can then be done using a more conventional programming style.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ducasse|first=St ́ephane|title=Seaside – A Multiple Control Flow Web Application Framework|url=http://scg.unibe.ch/archive/papers/Duca04eSeaside.pdf|work=scg.unibe.ch|publisher=Software Composition Group Institut f ̈ur Informatik und angewandte Mathematik Universit ̈at Bern, Switzerland|accessdate=16 December 2013|coauthors=Adrian Lienhard, Lukas Renggli}}</ref>

An example of how Smalltalk can use reflection is the mechanism for handling errors. When an object is sent a message that it does not implement, the virtual machine sends the object the <code>doesNotUnderstand:</code> message with a [[reification (computer science)|reification]] of the message as an argument.  The message (another object, an instance of <code>Message</code>) contains the selector of the message and an <code>Array</code> of its arguments.  In an interactive Smalltalk system the default implementation of <code>doesNotUnderstand:</code> is one that opens an error window (a Notifier) reporting the error to the user.  Through this and the reflective facilities the user can examine the context in which the error occurred, redefine the offending code, and continue, all within the system, using Smalltalk-80's reflective facilities.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Foote|first=Brian|coauthors=Ralph Johnson|title=Reflective Facilities in Smalltalk-80|journal=OOPSLA '89|date=1–6 October 1989|url=http://www.laputan.org/ref89/ref89.html|accessdate=16 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Smith|first=Brian C|title=PROCEDURAL REFLECTION IN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES|journal=MIT Technical Report|date=1982-01-01|issue=MIT-LCS-TR-272|url=http://publications.csail.mit.edu/lcs/specpub.php?id=840|accessdate=16 December 2013}}</ref>

==Syntax==
'''Smalltalk-80''' syntax is rather minimalist, based on only a handful of declarations and reserved words. In fact, only six "keywords" are reserved in Smalltalk: <code>true</code>, <code>false</code>, <code>nil</code>, <code>self</code>, <code>super</code>, and <code>thisContext</code>.  These are actually called  ''pseudo-variables'', identifiers that follow the rules for variable identifiers but denote bindings that the programmer cannot change. The <code>true</code>, <code>false</code>, and <code>nil</code> pseudo-variables are [[singleton pattern|singleton]] instances. <code>self</code> and <code>super</code> refer to the receiver of a message within a method activated in response to that message, but sends to <code>super</code> are looked up in the superclass of the method's defining class rather than the class of the receiver, which allows methods in subclasses to invoke methods of the same name in superclasses. <code>thisContext</code> refers to the current activation record.  The only built-in language constructs are message sends, assignment, method return and literal syntax for some objects.  From its origins as a language for children of all ages, standard Smalltalk syntax uses punctuation in a manner more like English than mainstream coding languages. The remainder of the language, including control structures for conditional evaluation and iteration, is implemented on top of the built-in constructs by the standard Smalltalk class library. (For performance reasons, implementations may recognize and treat as special some of those messages; however, this is only an optimization and is not hardwired into the language syntax.)

===Literals===

The following examples illustrate the most common objects which can be written as literal values in Smalltalk-80 methods.

Numbers. The following list illustrates some of the possibilities.

<source lang="smalltalk">
42
-42
123.45
1.2345e2
2r10010010
16rA000
</source>

The last two entries are a binary and a hexadecimal number, respectively. The number before the 'r' is the [[radix]] or base. The base does not have to be a power of two; for example 36rSMALLTALK is a valid number equal to 80738163270632 decimal.

Characters are written by preceding them with a dollar sign:

<source lang="smalltalk">$A</source>

Strings are sequences of characters enclosed in single quotes:

<source lang="smalltalk">'Hello, world!'</source>

To include a quote in a string, escape it using a second quote:

<source lang="smalltalk">'I said, ''Hello, world!'' to them.'</source>

Double quotes do not need escaping, since single quotes delimit a string:

<source lang="smalltalk">'I said, "Hello, world!" to them.'</source>

Two equal strings (strings are equal if they contain all the same characters) can be different objects residing in different places in memory. In addition to strings, Smalltalk has a class of character sequence objects called Symbol. Symbols are guaranteed to be unique—there can be no two equal symbols which are different objects. Because of that, symbols are very cheap to compare and are often used for language artifacts such as message selectors (see below).

Symbols are written as # followed by a string literal. For example:

<source lang="smalltalk">#'foo'</source>

If the sequence does not include whitespace or punctuation characters,
this can also be written as:

<source lang="smalltalk">#foo</source>

Arrays:

<source lang="smalltalk">#(1 2 3 4)</source>

defines an array of four integers.

Many implementations support the following literal syntax for ByteArrays:

<source lang="smalltalk">#[1 2 3 4]</source>

defines a ByteArray of four integers.

And last but not least, blocks ([[anonymous function]] literals)

<source lang="smalltalk">[... Some smalltalk code...]</source>

Blocks are explained in detail further in the text.

Many Smalltalk dialects implement additional syntaxes for other objects, but the ones above are the essentials supported by all.

===Variable declarations===

The two kinds of variable commonly used in Smalltalk are instance variables and temporary variables. Other variables and related terminology depend on the particular implementation. For example, [[VisualWorks]] has class shared variables and namespace shared variables, while [[Squeak]] and many other implementations have class variables, pool variables and global variables.

Temporary variable declarations in Smalltalk are variables declared inside a method (see below). They are declared at the top of the method as names separated by spaces and enclosed by vertical bars. For example:

<source lang="smalltalk">| index |</source>

declares a temporary variable named index. Multiple variables may be declared within one set of bars:

<source lang="smalltalk">| index vowels |</source>

declares two variables: index and vowels.

===Assignment===
A variable is assigned a value via the ':=' syntax. So:

<source lang="smalltalk">vowels := 'aeiou'</source>

Assigns the string 'aeiou' to the previously declared vowels variable. The string is an object (a sequence of characters between single quotes is the syntax for literal strings), created by the compiler at compile time.

In the original Parc Place image, the glyph of the underscore character (_) appeared as a left-facing arrow (like in the 1963 version of the [[ASCII]] code).  Smalltalk originally accepted this left-arrow as the only assignment operator.  Some modern code still contains what appear to be underscores acting as assignments, hearkening back to this original usage.  Most modern Smalltalk implementations accept either the underscore or the colon-equals syntax.

===Messages===

The message is the most fundamental language construct in Smalltalk. Even control structures are implemented as [[message passing|message sends]]. Smalltalk adopts by default a synchronous, single [[dynamic dispatch|dynamic message dispatch]] strategy (as contrasted to the asynchronous, [[multiple dispatch]] strategy adopted by some other object-oriented languages).

The following example sends the message 'factorial' to number 42:

<source lang="smalltalk">42 factorial</source>

In this situation 42 is called the message ''receiver'', while 'factorial' is the message ''selector''. The receiver responds to the message by returning a value (presumably in this case the [[factorial]] of 42). Among other things, the result of the message can be assigned to a variable:

<source lang="smalltalk">aRatherBigNumber := 42 factorial</source>

"factorial" above is what is called a ''unary message'' because only one object, the receiver, is involved. Messages can carry additional objects as ''arguments'', as follows:

<source lang="smalltalk">2 raisedTo: 4</source>

In this expression two objects are involved: 2 as the receiver and 4 as the message argument. The message result, or in Smalltalk parlance, ''the answer'' is supposed to be 16. Such messages are called ''keyword messages''. A message can have more arguments, using the following syntax:

<source lang="smalltalk">'hello world' indexOf: $o startingAt: 6</source>

which answers the index of character 'o' in the receiver string, starting the search from index 6. The selector of this message is "indexOf:startingAt:", consisting of two pieces, or ''keywords''.

Such interleaving of keywords and arguments is meant to improve readability of code, since arguments are explained by their preceding keywords. For example, an expression to create a rectangle using a C++ or Java-like syntax might be written as:

<source lang="java">new Rectangle(100, 200);</source>

It's unclear which argument is which. By contrast, in Smalltalk, this code would be written as:

<source lang="smalltalk">Rectangle width: 100 height: 200</source>

The receiver in this case is "Rectangle", a class, and the answer will be a new instance of the class with the specified width and height.

Finally, most of the special (non-alphabetic) characters can be used as what are called ''binary messages''. These allow mathematical and logical operators to be written in their traditional form:

<source lang="smalltalk">3 + 4</source>

which sends the message "+" to the receiver 3 with 4 passed as the argument (the answer of which will be 7). Similarly,

<source lang="smalltalk">3 > 4</source>

is the message ">" sent to 3 with argument 4 (the answer of which will be false).

Notice, that the Smalltalk-80 language itself does not imply the meaning of those operators. The outcome of the above is only defined by how the receiver of the message (in this case a Number instance) responds to messages "+" and ">".

A side effect of this mechanism is operator overloading. A message ">" can also be understood by other objects, allowing the use of expressions of the form "a > b" to compare them.

===Expressions===

An expression can include multiple message sends. In this case expressions are parsed according to a simple order of precedence. Unary messages have the highest precedence, followed by binary messages, followed by keyword messages. For example:

<source lang="smalltalk">3 factorial + 4 factorial between: 10 and: 100</source>

is evaluated as follows:

#3 receives the message "factorial" and answers 6
#4 receives the message "factorial" and answers 24
#6 receives the message "+" with 24 as the argument and answers 30
#30 receives the message "between:and:" with 10 and 100 as arguments and answers true

The answer of the last message sent is the result of the entire expression.

Parentheses can alter the order of evaluation when needed. For example,

<source lang="smalltalk">(3 factorial + 4) factorial between: 10 and: 100</source>

will change the meaning so that the expression first computes "3 factorial + 4" yielding 10. That 10 then receives the second "factorial" message, yielding 3628800. 3628800 then receives "between:and:", answering false.

Note that because the meaning of binary messages is not hardwired into Smalltalk-80 syntax, all of them are considered to have equal precedence and are evaluated simply from left to right. Because of this, the meaning of Smalltalk expressions using binary messages can be different from their "traditional" interpretation:

<source lang="smalltalk">3 + 4 * 5</source>

is evaluated as "(3 + 4) * 5", producing 35.  To obtain the expected answer of 23, parentheses must be used to explicitly define the order of operations:

<source lang="smalltalk">3 + (4 * 5)</source>

Unary messages can be ''[[method chaining|chained]]'' by writing them one after another:

<source lang="smalltalk">3 factorial factorial log</source>

which sends "factorial" to 3, then "factorial" to the result (6), then "log" to the result (720), producing the result 2.85733.

A series of expressions can be written as in the following (hypothetical) example, each separated by a period. This example first creates a new instance of class Window, stores it in a variable, and then sends two messages to it.

<source lang="smalltalk">
 | window |
  window := Window new.
  window label: 'Hello'.
  window open
</source>

If a series of messages are sent to the same receiver as in the example above, they can also be written as a ''[[method cascading|cascade]]'' with individual messages separated by semicolons:

<source lang="smalltalk">
  Window new
    label: 'Hello';
    open
</source>

This rewrite of the earlier example as a single expression avoids the need to store the new window in a temporary variable. According to the usual precedence rules, the unary message "new" is sent first, and then "label:" and "open" are sent to the answer of "new".

===Code blocks===

A block of code (an anonymous function) can be expressed as a literal value (which is an object, since all values are objects.) This is achieved with square brackets:

<source lang="smalltalk">[ :params | <message-expressions> ]</source>

Where '':params'' is the list of parameters the code can take. This means that the Smalltalk code:

<source lang="smalltalk">[:x | x + 1]</source>

can be understood as:

<math>f</math> : <math>f(x) = x + 1</math>

or expressed in lambda terms as:

<math>\lambda x</math> : <math>x + 1</math>

and

<source lang="smalltalk">[:x | x + 1] value: 3</source>

can be evaluated as

<math>f(3) = 3 + 1</math>

Or in lambda terms as:

<math>(\lambda x : x + 1) 3 _\beta\rightarrow 4</math>

The resulting block object can form a [[closure (computer science)|closure]]: it can access the variables of its enclosing lexical scopes at any time. Blocks are [[first-class object]]s.

Blocks can be executed by sending them the ''value'' message (compound variations exist in order to provide parameters to the block e.g. 'value:value:' and 'valueWithArguments:').

The literal representation of blocks was an innovation which on the one hand allowed certain code to be significantly more readable; it allowed algorithms involving iteration to be coded in a clear and concise way. Code that would typically be written with loops in some languages can be written concisely in Smalltalk using blocks, sometimes in a single line.  But more importantly blocks allow control structure to be expressed using messages and polymorphism, since blocks defer computation and polymorphism can be used to select alternatives.  So if-then-else in Smalltalk is written and implemented as

<blockquote>expr ifTrue: [statements to evaluate if expr] ifFalse: [statements to evaluate if not expr]<br><br>
''True methods for evaluation''<br>
'''ifTrue:''' trueAlternativeBlock '''ifFalse:''' falseAlternativeBlock<br>
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;^trueAlternativeBlock value<br>

''False methods for evaluation''<br>
'''ifTrue:''' trueAlternativeBlock '''ifFalse:''' falseAlternativeBlock<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;^falseAlternativeBlock value</blockquote>

<source lang="smalltalk">positiveAmounts := allAmounts select: [:anAmount | anAmount isPositive]</source>

Note that this is related to [[functional programming]], wherein patterns of computation (here selection) are [[abstraction (computer science)|abstracted]] into [[higher-order function]]s. For example, the message ''select:'' on a Collection is equivalent to the higher-order function [[filter (higher-order function)|filter]] on an appropriate [[function object|functor]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Adele|title=Smalltalk-80 The Language|year=1989|publisher=Addison Wesley|isbn=0-201-13688-0|pages=17–37|coauthors=David Robson}}</ref>

==Control structures==
Control structures do not have special syntax in Smalltalk. They are instead implemented as messages sent to objects. For example, conditional execution is implemented by sending the message ifTrue: to a Boolean object, passing as an argument the block of code to be executed if and only if the Boolean receiver is true.

The following code demonstrates this:
<source lang="smalltalk">
result := a > b
    ifTrue:[ 'greater' ]
    ifFalse:[ 'less or equal' ]
</source>
Blocks are also used to implement user-defined control structures, enumerators, visitors, pluggable behavior and many other patterns.
For example:
<source lang="smalltalk">
| aString vowels |
aString := 'This is a string'.
vowels := aString select: [:aCharacter | aCharacter isVowel].
</source>
In the last line, the string is sent the message select: with an argument that is a code block literal. The code block literal will be used as a predicate function that should answer true if and only if an element of the String should be included in the Collection of characters that satisfy the test represented by the code block that is the argument to the "select:" message.

A String object responds to the "select:" message by iterating through its members (by sending itself the message "do:"), evaluating the selection block ("aBlock") once with each character it contains as the argument. When evaluated (by being sent the message "value: each"), the selection block (referenced by the parameter "aBlock", and defined by the block literal "[:aCharacter | aCharacter isVowel]"), answers a boolean, which is then sent "ifTrue:". If the boolean is the object true, the character is added to a string to be returned.
Because the "select:" method is defined in the abstract class Collection, it can also be used like this:
<source lang="smalltalk">
| rectangles aPoint collisions |
rectangles := OrderedCollection 
  with: (Rectangle left: 0 right: 10 top: 100 bottom: 200)
  with: (Rectangle left: 10 right: 10 top: 110 bottom: 210).
aPoint := Point x: 20 y: 20.
collisions := rectangles select: [:aRect | aRect containsPoint: aPoint].
</source>

==Classes==
This is a stock class definition:<ref>{{cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Adele|title=Smalltalk-80 The Language|year=1989|publisher=Addison Wesley|isbn=0-201-13688-0|pages=39–53|coauthors=David Robson}}</ref>
<source lang="smalltalk">
Object subclass: #MessagePublisher
    instanceVariableNames: ''
    classVariableNames: ''
    poolDictionaries: ''
    category: 'Smalltalk Examples'
</source>
Often, most of this definition will be filled in by the environment. Notice that this is actually a message to the "Object"-class to create a subclass called "MessagePublisher". In other words: classes are [[first-class object]]s in Smalltalk which can receive messages just like any other object and can be created dynamically at execution time.

===Methods===
When an object receives a message, a method matching the message name is invoked. The following code defines a method publish, and so defines what will happen when this object receives the 'publish' message.
<source lang="smalltalk">
publish
    Transcript show: 'Hello World!'
</source>
The following method demonstrates receiving multiple arguments and returning a value:
<source lang="smalltalk">
quadMultiply: i1 and: i2 
    "This method multiplies the given numbers by each other and the result by 4."
    | mul |
    mul := i1 * i2.
    ^mul * 4
</source>
The method's name is <code>#quadMultiply:and:</code>. The return value is specified with the <code>^</code> operator.

Note that objects are responsible for determining dynamically at runtime which method to execute in response to a message—while in many languages this may be (sometimes, or even always) determined statically at compile time.

===Instantiating classes===
The following code:
<source lang="smalltalk">
MessagePublisher new
</source>
creates (and returns) a new instance of the MessagePublisher class. This is typically assigned to a variable:
<source lang="smalltalk">
publisher := MessagePublisher new
</source>
However, it is also possible to send a message to a temporary, anonymous object:
<source lang="smalltalk">
MessagePublisher new publish
</source>

==Hello World example==
The [[Hello world program]] is used by virtually all texts to new programming languages as the first program learned to show the most basic syntax and environment of the language. For Smalltalk, the program is extremely simple to write.  The following code, the message "show:" is sent to the object "Transcript" with the String literal 'Hello, world!' as its argument. Invocation of the "show:" method causes the characters of its argument (the String literal 'Hello, world!') to be displayed in the transcript ("terminal") window.
<source lang="smalltalk">
Transcript show: 'Hello, world!'.
</source>
Note that a Transcript window would need to be open in order to see the results of this example.

==Image-based persistence==
Most popular programming systems separate static program code (in the form of class definitions, functions or procedures) from dynamic, or [[Run time (program lifecycle phase)|run time]], program state (such as objects or other forms of program data).  They load program code when a program starts, and any prior program state must be recreated explicitly from configuration files or other data sources. Any settings the program (and programmer) does not explicitly save must be set up again for each restart. A traditional program also loses much useful document information each time a program saves a file, quits, and reloads. This loses details such as undo history or cursor position. Image based systems don't force losing all that just because a computer is turned off, or an OS updates.

Many Smalltalk systems, however, do not differentiate between program data (objects) and code (classes). In fact, classes are objects themselves. Therefore most Smalltalk systems store the entire program state (including both Class and non-Class objects) in an [[system image|image]] file.  The image can then be loaded by the Smalltalk [[virtual machine]] to restore a Smalltalk-like system to a prior state.<ref>{{cite web|title=Image-Based Persistence|url=http://book.seaside.st/book/advanced/persistency/image-based-persistency|work=book.seaside.st|accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref>  This was inspired by FLEX, a language created by [[Alan Kay]] and described in his M.Sc. thesis.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kay|first=Allen|title=FLEX – A flexible extendable language|journal=University of Utah MsC Thesis|year=1968|url=http://www.mprove.de/diplom/gui/kay68.html}}</ref>

Smalltalk images are similar to (restartable) [[core dump]]s and can provide the same functionality as core dumps, such as delayed or remote debugging with full access to the program state at the time of error. Other languages that model application code as a form of data, such as [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]], often use image-based persistence as well. This method of persistence is powerful for rapid development because all the development information (e.g. parse trees of the program) is saved which facilitates debugging. However, it also has serious drawbacks as a true persistence mechanism. For one thing, developers may often want to hide implementation details and not make them available in a run time environment. For legal reasons as well as for maintenance reasons, allowing anyone to modify the program at run time inevitably introduces complexity and potential errors that would not be possible with a compiled system that does not expose source code in the run time environment. Also, while the persistence mechanism is easy to use it lacks the true persistence capabilities needed for most multi-user systems.  The most obvious is the ability to do transactions with multiple users accessing the same database in parallel.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fowler|first=Martin|title=Memory Image|url=http://martinfowler.com/bliki/MemoryImage.html|work=martinfowler.com|accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref>

==Level of access==
Everything in Smalltalk-80 is available for modification from within a running program. This means that, for example, the [[integrated development environment|IDE]] can be changed in a running system without restarting it.  In some implementations, the syntax of the language or the [[garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collection]] implementation can also be changed [[on the fly]]. Even the statement <code>true become: false</code> is valid in Smalltalk, although executing it is not recommended.  When used judiciously, this level of flexibility allows for one of the shortest required times for new code to enter a production system. {{Citation needed|date=May 2012}}

==Just-in-time compilation==
{{main|Just-in-time compilation}}
Smalltalk programs are usually compiled to [[bytecode]], which is then interpreted by a [[virtual machine]] or dynamically translated into machine-native code.

==List of implementations==
*[[Amber Smalltalk]] Smalltalk running atop [[JavaScript]]
*[[Athena]], Smalltalk scripting engine for Java ≥ 1.6
*[[Bistro programming language|Bistro]]
*[[Cincom]] has the following Smalltalk products: [[ObjectStudio]], [[VisualWorks]] and WebVelocity.
**[[Visual Smalltalk Enterprise]], and family, including Smalltalk/V
*[[F-Script programming language|F-Script]]
*[[Gemstone (database)|Gemstone]], [[Database Management System|GemStone/S]]
*[[GNU Smalltalk]]
**Étoilé Pragmatic Smalltalk, Smalltalk for Étoilé, a GNUstep-based user environment
**[[StepTalk]], GNUstep scripting framework uses Smalltalk language on an [[Objective-C]] runtime
*Instantiations, VA Smalltalk being the follow-on to IBM VisualAge Smalltalk
**[[IBM VisualAge|VisualAge]] Smalltalk
*[[Little Smalltalk]]
*Object Arts, [[Dolphin Smalltalk]]
*Object Connect, [[Smalltalk MT]] Smalltalk for Windows
*Objective-Smalltalk, Smalltalk on Objective-C runtime with extensions for [[Software Architecture]]
**LSW Vision-Smalltalk have partnered with Object Arts
*Panda Smalltalk, open source engine, written in C, has no dependencies except libc
*[[Pharo|Pharo Smalltalk]], Pharo Project's open-source multi-platform Smalltalk
*[[Pocket Smalltalk]], runs on Palm Pilot
*Refactory, produces [[#Smalltalk]]
*[[Smalltalk YX]]
*Smalltalk/X<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.exept.de/en/products/smalltalkx |title=Smalltalk/X - Object-oriented programming language &#124; eXept AG |publisher=Exept.de |date= |accessdate=2013-06-25}}</ref>
*[[Squeak]], open source Smalltalk
**Cog, [[Just-in-time compilation|JIT]] VM written in Squeak Smalltalk
***CogDroid, port of non-JIT variant of Cog VM to Android
**[[Etoys (programming language)|eToys]], eToys visual programming system for learning
**iSqueak, Squeak interpreter port for iOS devices, iPhone/iPad
**JSqueak, Squeak interpreter written in Java
***Potato, Squeak interpreter written in Java, a direct derivative of [[JSqueak]]
**RoarVM, RoarVM is a multi- and manycore interpreter for Squeak and Pharo
*[[Strongtalk]], for Windows, offers optional strong typing
*[[VistaSmalltalk|Vista Smalltalk]]
*[http://files.calmosoft.webnode.hu/200000016-e8e2ce9dd1/CalmoSoft_Project_20130830.zip CalmoSoft Project for Vista Smalltalk]

==See also==
*[[Objective-C]]
*[[GLASS (software bundle)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Adele|title=Smalltalk-80: The Interactive Programming Environment|date=December 1983|publisher=Addison-Wesley|isbn=0-201-11372-4|authorlink=Adele Goldberg (computer scientist)}}
*{{cite book|editor=[[Adele Goldberg (computer scientist)|Adele Goldberg]] & [[Alan Kay]]|title=Smalltalk-72 Instruction Manual|url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/xerox/parc/techReports/Smalltalk-72_Instruction_Manual_Mar76.pdf|accessdate=2011-11-11|date=March 1976|publisher=[[Xerox]] [[Palo Alto Research Center]]|location=Palo Alto, California}}
*{{cite book|last1=Goldberg|first1=Adele|authorlink1=Adele Goldberg (computer scientist)|last2=Robson|first2=David|title=Smalltalk-80: The Language and its Implementation|url=http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Bluebook.pdf|date=May 1983|publisher=Addison-Wesley|isbn=0-201-11371-6}}
*{{cite book|title=Smalltalk 80: The Language|last1=Goldberg|first1=Adele|authorlink1=Adele Goldberg (computer scientist)|last2=Robson|first2=David|date=11 January 1989|publisher=Addison-Wesley|isbn=0-201-13688-0}}
*{{cite journal|last=Kay|first=Alan C.|authorlink=Alan Kay|date=March 1993|title=The Early History of Smalltalk|journal=ACM [[SIGPLAN]] Notices|publisher=[[Association for Computing Machinery|ACM]]|volume=28|issue=3|pages=69–95|url=http://www.metaobject.com/papers/Smallhistory.pdf|doi=10.1145/155360.155364}}
*{{cite book|editor=Glen Krasner|title=Smalltalk-80: Bits of History, Words of Advice|date=August 1983|publisher=Addison-Wesley|isbn=0-201-11669-3}}
*{{cite book|last1=Nierstrasz|first1=Oscar|last2=Ducasse|first2=Stéphane|last3=Pollet|first3=Damien|first4=Andrew P. |last4=Black|title=Squeak by Example|date=2009-10-07|publisher=Square Bracket Associates|location=Kehrsatz, Switzerland|isbn=3-9523341-0-3|url=http://www.squeakbyexample.org}}
*{{cite book|last1=Nierstrasz|first1=Oscar|last2=Ducasse|first2=Stéphane|last3=Pollet|first3=Damien|first4=Andrew P. |last4=Black|title=Pharo by Example|url=http://pharobyexample.org/|date=February 23, 2010|publisher=Square Bracket Publishing|location=Kehrsatz, Switzerland|isbn=978-3-9523341-4-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Winston|first=Patrick Henry|title=On to Smalltalk|date=September 3, 1997|publisher=Addison Wesley|location=MIT, USA|isbn=978-0201498271}}
*{{cite journal|date=August 1981|title=Special Issue on Smalltalk|journal=[[BYTE]]|publisher=McGraw-Hill|volume=6|issue=8|url=http://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1981-08|accessdate=2013-10-18}}
**{{cite journal|date=August 1981|title=Introducing the Smalltalk-80 System|first=Adele|last=Goldberg|journal=[[BYTE]]|publisher=McGraw-Hill|volume=6|issue=8|url=http://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-08/1981_08_BYTE_06-08_Smalltalk#page/n15/mode/2up|accessdate=2013-10-18|authorlink=Adele Goldberg (computer scientist)}}
**{{cite journal|date=August 1981|title=Design Principles Behind Smalltalk|first=Dan|last=Ingalls|journal=[[BYTE]]|publisher=McGraw-Hill|volume=6|issue=8|url=http://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-08/1981_08_BYTE_06-08_Smalltalk#page/n299/mode/2up|accessdate=2011-11-11|authorlink=Dan Ingalls}}

==External links==
{{Wikibooks|Programming:Smalltalk}}
*[http://www.world.st/ The World of Smalltalk], Smalltalk books and videos, implementations, frameworks and tools, blogs and mailing lists
*[http://planet.smalltalk.org/ Planet Smalltalk], an [[Planet (software)|aggregator]] of Smalltalk blog posts
*[http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks.html Downloadable books on Smalltalk], permission obtained to make these books freely available, over 25 full texts scanned from print
*{{dmoz|Computers/Programming/Languages/Smalltalk}}
*[http://www.esug.org ESUG (European Smalltalk Users Group)], non-profit organization with commercial and academic members, has various promotion activities including a yearly event since 1993
*[http://stic.st STIC (Smalltalk Industry Council)], promoting Smalltalk on behalf of the Smalltalk community
*[http://www.fast.org.ar La Fundacion Argentina de Smalltalk (FAST)], Organizer of annual Smalltalk conference in Argentina
*[http://www.clubsmalltalk.org/ ClubSmalltalk], a Latin American group with a website in English to promote the Smalltalk technology
*[http://www.smalltalk.org/ Smalltalk.org], advocacy site

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