[self-interest] Re: Would 'Self' make a good scripting language?

[Randy Smith]

 > 
> I wonder whether, with some 'fairly minor' changes to the language syntax,
> Self might a really good, quite high performance scripting language.
> 
> The enhancements I can see would be:
> 
> 1) optional parameters
> 2) decent library of string manipulation (like TCL has)
> 
 

For a long time at Sun we tried to sell a concept we called "The Green
Blur." I can't recall the origin of the color, but it had to do with
making Self into an system that offers a smooth, continuous path leading
from end-user programmer land ("scripting") to full-fledged programmer
land.

This was part of the motivation behind the Morphic user interface
stuff...end users could directly rip apart a running application, get in
there, tweak something, and..before you know it..they are programming!

At a deeper level, I do not believe there needs be a conflict between
concreteness and abstraction. Use of prototypes is an example of that.
And concrete abstractions are ideal for bluring the end-user and
full-fleged programming worlds.

Sounds simple, but there are many barriers along the path, and syntax is
a big one.  Also, appropriately filtering or narrowing the view of the
massivly populated "library" of existing objects.

	--Randy

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