Contents

1 How this Book Teaches You the Language

• Why you should learn Smalltalk
• Methods versus functions
• Programming idioms and programming principles

2 How To Experiment Using the Workspace and the Transcript

• The workspace and the transcript
• Expressions, receivers, messages, and answers
• Methods and arguments
• Unary, binary, and keyword methods
• Method precedence
• Expression separation
• Strings
• Patterns and instantiation

3 How To Write Arithmetic Expressions

• Arithmetic messages
• Integer, floating-point, and rational numbers
• Absence of special precedence conventions for arithmetic
• Number-class conversion

4 How To Define Simple Methods

• Method definition
• The self object
• Returning from methods
• Blank insensitivity and case sensitivity
• Message cascading
• String concatenation
• Comments

5 How To Define Methods with Parameters

• Arguments and parameters
• Parameters and local scope

6 How To Perform Tests using Predicates

• Equal and not equal
• Greater than and less than
• Negation
• Class-membership predicates

7 How To Write Conditional Expressions

• Boolean expressions
• ifTrue: and ifFalse: messages
• Blocks

8 How To Combine Boolean Expressions

• & and |
• and: and or:

9 How To Introduce Local Variables

• Local-variable initialization and assignment
• The role of nil
• Local scope

10 How To Benefit from Procedure Abstraction

• Making programs easier to reuse, read, and debug
• Making programs easier to augment, improve, and change

11 How To Create Classes and Instances

• Instance variables, setters, and getters
• Derived attributes

12 How To Define Classes that Inherit Instance Variables and Methods

• Subclasses and superclasses
• Inheriting instance variables and methods
• Method overriding
• Class-membership predicates
• Polymorphism

13 How To Define Instance-Creation Methods

• Instance-creation methods and initializors
• Definition of new versions of new

14 How To Benefit from Data Abstraction

• Hiding implementation details
• Making programs easier write and maintain

15 How To Design Classes and Class Hierarchies

• Explicit representation
• The modularity principle
• The no-duplication principle
• The look-it-up principle
• The is-a versus has-a principle

16 How To Write Iteration Statements

• Iteration expressions
• whileTrue: and whileFalse: expressions
• timesRepeat: expressions

17 How To Write Recursive Methods

• Methods that use themselves recursively
• The base part and the recursion part
• Recursion versus iteration efficiency

18 How To Store Values in Class Variables

• Class variables and class-variable access
• Class-variable setters and getters

19 How To Store Values in Dictionaries

• The Smalltalk dictionary
• Creation of new dictionaries
• Pool dictionaries

20 How To Work With Arrays

• Manipulating arrays of numeric elements
• Iterating with elements as parameter values
• Iterating with numeric indexes as parameter values
• Combining array elements with inject:into:
• Arrays of arrays

21 How To Work with Ordered Collections and Sorted Collections

• Ordered collections of elements
• Iteration over ordered collections
• Bags and sets
• Sorted collections and sort blocks

22 How To Create File Streams for Input and Output

• Creating file streams
• Reading strings, integers, and floats from input streams
• Writing to output streams
• Closing streams

23 How To Work with Characters and Strings

• Strings and characters
• Reading lines from files
• Extracting characters from strings
• Converting strings to streams

24 How To Produce Formatted Text

• Understanding field widths and padding characters
• Determining the length of a string
• Creating strings with specified length and filler

25 How To Use Sorted Collections in Simulations

• System simulation
• Event queues
• Application classes

26 How to Work with Dates and Times

• Time and Date objects
• Time and date creation, manipulation, and comparison
• Use of dates in simulations

27 How To Define Binary Methods

• Defining binary methods
• Creating new classes for numberlike objects

28 How to Use Debugging Tools

• The walkback window
• The debugger
• The inspector
• The stepper
• Senders and implementers

29 How to Program Defensively

• Indicating definitions are expected
• Defining class predicates
• Announcing errors

30 How to Exchange Software

• Absence of text files
• Filing in and filing out
• The chunk-file format

31 How To Create Points and Rectangles

• Screen coordinate system
• Points and rectangles

32 How To Draw Lines and To Display Text in Windows

• View managers, top panes, and graph panes
• The createViews method
• The when:perform: method
• Pens, lines, and displaying text

33 How To Use the Graphics Context to Alter Appearance

• Using pens and graphics contexts
• Changing colors, widths, and fonts
• Drawing plain and filled polygons

34 How To Use List Boxes to Select Instances

• Creating list boxes
• Loading list boxes with elements
• Determining which element has been selected

35 How To Connect Together Display Elements

• Sending messages to named views
• Broadcasting messages to all views

36 How To Display Menus and File Dialog Windows

• Menu items, menus, and menu bars
• Access to files via file dialogs

37 How To Develop a GUI using a GUI Builder

• Entering the GUI builder
• Installing graphical elements
• Sizing and alignment
• Understanding events and callbacks

38 How To Work with a Commercial Smalltalk

• Understanding categories and protocols
• Filing out categories and protocols
• Reading and writing file-stream distinctions

39 How To Work with the Model--Viewer--Controller Paradigm

• Change and update messages
• Dependent parts and views

40 How To Use VisualWork's Value Holders and Aspect Adapters

• Using value holders to hold values
• Using aspect adapters to translate messages

41 How To Use VisualWorks To Build Applications

• Application models
• VisualWorks GUI Builder

42 How To Use VisualWorks To Build Viewers and Controllers

• Defining new viewers
• Defining new controllers

Appendix A: The Calorie Application

Appendix B: Packaging Applications for Users

Appendix C: The VisualWorks GUI Builder

Appendix D: The VisualWorks Drawing Methods

Colophon

Index