Does anyone know the current state of agent-assisted Smalltalk, Pharo or otherwise? Intuitively it seems like a match made in heaven, since the agent can directly manipulate the running program, but I also assume that there is very little training data available for Smalltalk.
I spent some time exploring Glamorous Toolkit [1] for agent-assisted custom UI development, in an emacs fashion, where you'd modify the interface you're working with on the fly. It was a pretty good experience and the built-in data exploration was top notch.
Ironically after watching glamorous toolkit videos on youtube, I was recommended a talk by Geoffrey Litt about dynamic documents [2] and at the end of his talk I learned about bb [3], which has much better agent integration compared to GT. Like @thelazydogsback said, with agents, the programming language matters less.
>"Reading stuff like this continue to make advances and new releases is like a fever dream when everything else is all AI."
Do the advances mean anything though? Alan Kay is a personal hero of mine, I love the aesthetic of Smalltalk, and the dream-that-was once upon a time of such a system was a real missed opportunity for the evolution of programming environments. But is it anything more than a neat hobby at this point?
> But is it anything more than a neat hobby at this point?
The opposite. With LLMs you can now pick up any one of these obscure language and write a full blown AAA game engine in them. Or a database. Or a web framework. Or... anything you set your mind to. The language no longer matters. btw LLMs are exceptionally good at Smalltalk/Haskell/Perl/FORTRAN and other old/uncommon languages.
Like many here, I've always been a language buff -- programming in assmebly, C(++), Java, various Lisps, Prolog, O'Caml/F#/Hask, etc. - and a fan of Smalltalk. (Used Tektronix ST and Smalltalk-V, but never Pharo.)
One thing that AI programming has done is made me care much less what programming language is being used. This is slightly regrettable, but for the most part very freeing, as I don't need to worry about what language is easier for me (as a human) to use for a particular problem, or make me inclined to use one of my "pet" programming languages over one that may be a better fit for more pedestrian reasons.
>One thing that AI programming has done is made me care much less what programming language is being used
I'm right there with you. I really like programming in Python, the language. Now that I'm not writing much if any code, the rough edges in building and deployment have come to the forefront. Even "uvx run" has become a sticky wicket (I have some machines that don't have Internet access).
I am sorry to hear that, I hope you will rediscover the joys of programming one day again!
Humans haven't given up playing chess just because computers are able to do it better, there is still a point in recreational programming.
I am fondly remembering actually using Smalltalk in production for a small web project. I think I used Squeak with the Seaside framework. The image based workflow made deploying it surprisingly easy.
https://squeak.js.org/demo/simple.html this is canvas not DOM/SVG. It doesn't support fonts/text. Its text support feels less janky than I expected, select, copy, paste work, but it is still not browser-native.
I don't know how to start Amber in the browser and couldn't find demos.
Ironically after watching glamorous toolkit videos on youtube, I was recommended a talk by Geoffrey Litt about dynamic documents [2] and at the end of his talk I learned about bb [3], which has much better agent integration compared to GT. Like @thelazydogsback said, with agents, the programming language matters less.
[1] https://gtoolkit.com/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MccJdr61xnc
[3] https://getbb.app/
Sounds pretty cool. Never heard about Pharo before, but i will try it in spare time.
This should be a BIG benefit for agent-driven development, but sadly it seems that few people is taking advantage of it.
https://github.com/gavr123456789/Niva
An implementation of Boids for Niva:
https://github.com/dharmatech/boids-niva
Do the advances mean anything though? Alan Kay is a personal hero of mine, I love the aesthetic of Smalltalk, and the dream-that-was once upon a time of such a system was a real missed opportunity for the evolution of programming environments. But is it anything more than a neat hobby at this point?
It effectively already is. It may end up in the same domain as Haiku OS, Plant 9, or Squeak, but they are all still interesting domains of research.
When was it anything else? The 80s? I've can count the number of Smalltalk jobs I've seen in my career on my hand (but I have seen them)
The opposite. With LLMs you can now pick up any one of these obscure language and write a full blown AAA game engine in them. Or a database. Or a web framework. Or... anything you set your mind to. The language no longer matters. btw LLMs are exceptionally good at Smalltalk/Haskell/Perl/FORTRAN and other old/uncommon languages.
(Smalltalk is a religion, I will die on this hill!)
One thing that AI programming has done is made me care much less what programming language is being used. This is slightly regrettable, but for the most part very freeing, as I don't need to worry about what language is easier for me (as a human) to use for a particular problem, or make me inclined to use one of my "pet" programming languages over one that may be a better fit for more pedestrian reasons.
I'm right there with you. I really like programming in Python, the language. Now that I'm not writing much if any code, the rough edges in building and deployment have come to the forefront. Even "uvx run" has become a sticky wicket (I have some machines that don't have Internet access).
Humans haven't given up playing chess just because computers are able to do it better, there is still a point in recreational programming.
I am fondly remembering actually using Smalltalk in production for a small web project. I think I used Squeak with the Seaside framework. The image based workflow made deploying it surprisingly easy.
It could serve as the engine for new, fun, interactive websites!
[1] https://github.com/rabbibotton/clog
https://www.amber-lang.net/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Smalltalk
or more like https://squeak.js.org/ ?
I don't know how to start Amber in the browser and couldn't find demos.
Nothing found. Weird.
https://github.com/pharo-pulsar/pulsar
Almost "Pharo for Gnome".