Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!munnari.oz.au!metro!extro!objtch From: objtch@extro.ucc.su.oz.au (Peter Goodall) Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk Subject: Team development environments/ CM for Smalltalk Summary: What tools are needed for development by teams in Smalltalk? Keywords: teamwork configuration-management Message-ID: Date: 20 Dec 90 21:03:31 GMT Sender: news@metro.ucc.su.OZ.AU Distribution: comp Organization: Sydney University Computing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia Lines: 48 Nntp-Posting-Host: extro.ucc.su.oz.au Dear folks, ParcPlace recently asked if I thought that a 'Team Tools' environment was neccessary for team development under their ObjectWorks system. I replied that I thought it was extremely neccessary, and was probably one of the things holding up acceptance of Smalltalk by a wider market. They were suggesting Dave Thomas's ENVY system as a solution. Unfortunately I don't have direct experience of that system. I am familiar with the ORWELL system from the paper in OOPSLA '88 proceedings. This system seemed to have many of the features required. I would like to provoke some discussion alon the following lines: What does the Smalltalk community require of configuration management tools? Should these be bundled with the Smalltalk release?. An advantage of this would be transportability of configurations. I don't think that ParcPlace has taken advantage of Smalltalk-80's initial leadership in programming environments. Other systems (Sabre C, C++) seem to b making rapid advances, while Smalltalk-80 has largely stood still. Improvements in compiler technology are all very well, but we do really use ST-80 and Smalltalk/V* for their productivity. We have big avantages in the persistant state of the SMalltalk image, and the ability to upgrade a system while its running. We now need serious development support. The time for writing single programmer computer science experiments is over. I need to be able to work safely with a team of 15-20 over a period of 5 years, and still end up with a tidy system. Also I wonder why ParcPlace doesn't use this newsgroup for encouraging discussion on the improvement of the development environment. I would like to see that group of silent readers out there giving their opinions as a contribution to the Smalltalk community. ---------------------------- Peter Goodall Smalltalk Systems Consultant ObjecTech P/L 162 Burns Bay Rd, LANE COVE , NSW, AUSTRALIA objtch@extro.ucc.su.oz.au