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From: alfke@cit-vax.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
Subject: Re: Excuse my ignorance !
Message-ID: <2865@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Date: Fri, 29-May-87 04:52:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: cit-vax.2865
Posted: Fri May 29 04:52:00 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 30-May-87 08:36:56 EDT
References: <3627@osu-eddie.UUCP>
Reply-To: alfke@cit-vax.UUCP (J. Peter Alfke)
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Lines: 16

Well, Smalltalk (the 't' isn't capitalized) was originally ('71?) going to
be the language running on the Dynabook, a hypothetical non-threatening
computer to be used by anyone, especially children.  Think of it as a
notebook-sized proto-Macintosh.  So they chose Smalltalk (= chit-chat) as
a non-threatening name for a language, as opposed to imposing walls of
uppercase like COBOL or PL/I or FORTRAN or ...

In general, I highly approve of Xerox's history (perhaps mostly internal)
of using real words instead of acronyms.  Smalltalk, Star, Mesa, Dorado,
Dolphin, Tajo, Cedar ... file and mail servers on Xerox's network also
have real names.
-- 
							pEtEr AlfkE
I'm going to have to torture you now,				  @
but I want you to know						  cSVAx
it isn't personal.						.cAlTEch.EDU