Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!netcom!ergo From: ergo@netcom.COM (Isaac Rabinovitch) Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms Subject: Re: Smalltalk V /Windows (oink, oink) Message-ID: <27207@netcom.COM> Date: 7 Mar 91 07:33:31 GMT References: <10960018@otter.hpl.hp.com> Organization: UESPA Lines: 41 In <10960018@otter.hpl.hp.com> pwt@otter.hpl.hp.com (Peter Toft) writes: >I've also just received ST/V for Windows. Though I've not yet done any >development using it, running the demos hasn't indicated much of a performance >problem when compared to my other Windows Apps. >Admittedly, I'm using a 486 with 10Mb of memory. But it's the relative >performance that counts. I released the "turbo" button on my machine (bringing it down to 10Mhz, which is slower than a lot of 286's these days), and it was still quite responsive. Have heard that it degrades over time, though. If true, compressing the image should fix it, and it wouldn't affect distributed versions of your programs. I think of a lot of Smalltalk's reputation for slugishness, especially on PCs, comes from the problems of adapting it to run on top of simple-minded operating systems. Digitalk didn't help when they neglect to implement any decent scrolling or searching mechanism. This time, they've simply used standard Windows facilities, and it makes a difference. (This sort of standardized support for applications makes me think of Windows 3.0 as the first "real" operating system for PCs!) I *do* get in trouble if I start and stop ST several times though. Keep running out of memory, as if it were not releasing all its memory on exit. Typical kind of first-release problem -- I hope. One thing that *really* bothers me is that any program you create with ST/Windows starts up with a window advertising that the program was written with Smalltalk V -- and every window label gets "Smalltalk/V" prepended to it. The first is slightly obnoxious, the second is just plain stupid. -- ergo@netcom.com Isaac Rabinovitch netcom!ergo@apple.com Silicon Valley, CA {apple,amdahl,claris}!netcom!ergo (specific statement withheld at this time for operational reasons)