Alan Kay Reveals How Smalltalk Almost Forced a New Computing Paradigm
The Early History of Smalltalk
Alan Kay's firsthand history traces Smalltalk from 1960s ARPA research to Xerox PARC, where he and his team pursued a qualitative shift in belief structures—a new Kuhnian paradigm. They aimed to replace data structures and procedures with biological cells communicating via messages, creating the first complete realization of personal computing. Kay credits Dan Ingalls as the central implementer and reflects on the influences that shaped object-oriented design.
Small minds try to form religions, the great ones just want better routes up the mountain.