Smalltalk80LanguageImplementation:Part 01

PART ONE

Part one of this book provides an overview of the Smalltalk-80 programming language. Chapter 1 introduces the basic concepts and vocabulary of the Smalltalk-80 programming language without introducing its syntax. It describes objects, messages, classes, instances, and methods. These concepts are discussed in greater detail in the next four chapters as the relevant parts of the programming language syntax are described. Chapter 2 describes the syntax of expressions. Expressions allow objects to be referred to and messages to be described. Chapter 3 describes the basic syntax for classes and methods. Classes and methods allow new kinds of objects to be created and existing kinds to be modified. The final two chapters describe two important refinements to the role of classes in the Smalltalk-80 system. These refinements allow subclasses and metaclasses.