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by futureastronaut 2501 days ago
> One could argue that Smalltalk was designed in part to be a "Lisp for children."

This is the first time I've heard that, do you have a source?

1 comments

This is the first time I've heard that, do you have a source?

This is very widely known inside the language community and beyond. It's mentioned in many keynotes and talks by Alan Kay and others. You can go to the Wikipedia page and search for "children"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalltalk

Also, there's this article. Search for "children"

http://worrydream.com/EarlyHistoryOfSmalltalk/#smalltalkAndC...

In one keynote talk, Alan Kay stated that the design goal was to create a common programming substrate usable by everyone, from children, to hobbyists, to enterprise programmers, to researchers. Arguably, they succeeded.

I'm aware of Smalltalk being promoted in educational settings. What I wanted to know more about was "Lisp for children" which I've never heard before.
Yes, sounds strange. Actually the programming language LOGO would be that: LISP for children.