Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!tuvie!vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at!mst From: mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at (Markus Stumptner) Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk Subject: Re: Class Pen in PPS Rel. 4 Message-ID: <3730@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at> Date: 27 Oct 90 16:20:35 GMT References: Organization: DB and ES Subdivision, TU Vienna Lines: 28 From article , by peskin@caip.rutgers.edu (R. L. Peskin): > ParcPlace tells us that they consider the Pen obsolete since their data > indicated that it was not really used. I personally disagree. Pen was not just > a toy to scribble with; it is a serious tool for experimental geometry, etc. > when used in TurtleGraphics. I agree. I would like to know where those data came from. Did they really look at greater amounts of customers' code? What also strikes me as odd is the use of the word 'obsolete'. I haven't seen R4 as yet. Did they introduce anything new to take the place of Pens (e.g., provide similar functionality)? > One point to be made is that the better books (Inside > Smalltalk for example) discuss the Pen I don't think this is a coincidence; Pens (and turtle graphics) are great stuff for tutorials. Smalltalk is not that easy to learn, and I think removing Pens is a step backward in that respect. I think it would have been fitting if the class had been included as a file-in. After all, this way has been used in the past to keep useful, but not always necessary functionality (e.g., statistics) out of the basic image. Markus Stumptner mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at Technical University of Vienna vexpert!mst@uunet.uu.net Paniglg. 16, A-1040 Vienna, Austria ...mcsun!vexpert!mst