Message passing in Smalltalk compared to Java
Last updated at 2:33 am UTC on 10 May 2018
Smalltalk code may look unreadable to a reader more used to a mainstream language such as Java or C#. The main stumbling block is the syntax for message passing.
The mainstream syntax is
receiver.selector (arg1, arg2, ...)
e.g., fileDirectory.copy (file1, file2);
The Smalltalk (and Squeak) syntax is different
receiver arg1Name: arg1 arg2Name: arg2.
e.g., fileDirectory copyFrom: file1 to: file2.
Internally, the Squeak compiler immediately transforms the above syntax to the mainstream form:
receiver arg1name:arg2Name (arg1, arg2).
E.g., fileDirectory copyFrom:to: (file1, file2)
This works because the colon (:) is a legal character in a message selector. It follows that the number of colons in a selector equals the number of arguments.
Source: http://folk.uio.no/trygver/2011/SqueakExamples/index.html
See keyword message
