Powering Forward with Smalltalk
I like this tweet:
A developer with 0 knowledge of Seaside can get momentum much faster than some with 0 knowledge of Rails. Smalltalk is simpler.
I've felt that way - about the gaining momentum, that is - with every web framework I've ever used in Smalltalk. When I started with VisualWave back in the 90's, it was easy to move ahead - I recall taking to it very quickly. When I built the blog server that runs this site, it was the first application I had really done with the Web Toolkit - and again, it was very, very eays to get going.
Seaside, especially with WebVelocity, has been a similar experience. I was able to build a small application that had Ajax functionality and a database as a back end very quickly - and when I started, I really didn't know much about Seaside.
The common factor here: Smalltalk. Sure, I know Smalltalk well at this point, and that gives me a leg up - but I think Smalltalk is just simpler. The exploratory nature of the system just makes life simpler. When I don't understand something, I don't pound my head on the table - I just let it break and ponder the objects in the debugger. There, with all the application state live, things become clear pretty quickly. That's the thing Seaside really brings to the party, by the way - Smalltalk level debugging for the web. It's a powerful thing.
Technorati Tags: seaside, productivity
