IBM Smalltalk: The Language

This detailed reference book, produced in cooperation with IBM, provides encyclopedic coverage of the Smalltalk language as found in IBM'S Smalltalk and VisualAge products, while also providing an introduction to Object-Oriented Programming. Although a programming background is assumed, no prior knowledge of Smalltalk or Object-Oriented concepts is needed. Numerous examples guide readers through the concepts and methods of IBM Smalltalk, moving from short expressions, to code fragments, to full programs. Over 350 numbered examples from the text are also available in machine-readable form. Nearly 1,000 smaller examples and over 100 figures and illustrations help to illuminate every concept. Extensive indexing and cross-referencing enable programmers to find information quickly, making this book a practical reference that answers important questions about the language. 080530908XB04062001

Table of Contents:
FOUNDATIONS. 1. The Landscape. The Parts. The Platforms. The Image. The Class Library. Further Reading. 2. Introduction to Concepts. Pseudo-code. Objects. Four Principles. Summary. Further Reading. 3. Introduction to the Environment. Workspaces. Errors and Debugging. Inspecting Objects. Transcript. Summary. 4. Language Elements. Basic Elements. Messages. Variables. Expressions. Statements. Control Flow. Looping and Iterating. Methods. Blocks. Scope of Names. Summary. 5. Basic Classes. Object. Undefined Object. Magnitudes. Booleans. Points. Rectangles. Summary. 6. Collections and Iteration. Kinds of Collections. Creating Collections. Iterating Through Collections. Testing. Fixed-Size Collections. Variable-Size Collections. Dictionaries. Summary. 7. Creating Classes. An Employee Class. Creating Classes. Examples. Summary. Further Reading. BUILDING BLOCKS. 8. Variables. Kinds of Variables. Side Effects. Pool Dictionaries. Summary. 9. Memory, Pointers, and Copying. Identity and Immutable Objects. Memory Management. Pointers. Copying Objects. Indexed Memory. Summary. Further Reading. 10. Programming Interaction. Simple Interaction. Workspaces and the Transcript. Summary. 11. Introduction to Debugging. Viewing System Code. Debugging. Text Evaluation. Debugger and Errors. Summary. 12. Streams and File Streams. Streams. Streams on Collections. Line Delimiters. File Streams. Random Streams. Summary. 13. Files. File Names. File System Roots. Paths. Current Directory. Deleting and Renaming Files. Properties. Opening Files. Reading and Writing Files. Error Handling. File Sharing and Locking. Summary. 14. Handling Exceptions. Survey of Classes and Concepts. Exceptional Events. Building Exceptions. Example. Summary. 15. Processes and Synchronization. Delaying. Creating Processes. Priorities. Process Scheduler. Semaphores. Process Coordination. Summary. Further Reading. 16. Building User Interfaces. Widget Types. Widget Concepts. Graphics. Using Graphics and Widgets. Summary. Further Reading. EXAMPLES. 17. Example: Stereograms. Stereograms. The Implementation. Variations. Further Reading. 18. Example: Block Streams. Description. The Implementation. Block Stream Filein. Examples. Variations. 19. Example: The DoIt Browser. Description. The Implementation. Doit Browser Filein. Variations. 20. Example: Stream Filters. Stream Filter Classes. Applications of Stream Filters. Variations. 21. Example: Chalkboard. The Simplest Chalkboard. Chalkboard With a List. Chalkboard With Redraw. 22. Long Numbers. Long Calculations. Strings to Numbers. Numbers to Strings. Calculating With Long Numbers. Methods to Filein. Variations. Further Reading. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CLASSES. 23. Using The Encyclopedia. Protocol Tables. 24. Class Object. Categories of Messages. Dependents. Protocol Summary. Class Object. 25. Blocks. Categories of Messages. Blocks and Returns. Instance Protocol Summary. Class Block. 26. Booleans. Categories of Messages. Boolean Operations. Protocol Summary. Class Boolean. Class False. Class True. Polymorphism in Boolean. 27. Collections. Kinds of Collections. Categories of Messages. Protocol Summary. Class Collection. Class Bag. Class Dictionary. Class IdentityDictionary. Class Set. 28. Collections: Sequenceable. Kinds of Sequenceable Collections. Categories of Messages. Array Constants. Collections Returned. Protocol Summary. Class SequenceableCollection. Class AdditiveSequenceableCollection. Class OrderedCollection. Class SortedCollection. Class ArrayedCollection. Class Array. Class ByteArray. Class String. Class Symbol. Class Interval. 29. Common File System. Kinds of CFS Classes. CfsConstants Summary. Protocol Summary. Class CfsDirectoryDescriptor. Class CfsError. Class CfsErrorProxy. Class CfsFileDescriptor. CfsStat. CfsDirectoryEntry. 30. Exception Handling. Kinds of Exception Classes. Categories of Methods. Protocol Summary. Class Block. Class ExceptionalEvent. Class ExceptionalEventCollection. Class Signal. 31. File Streams. Kinds of File Stream Classes. Categories of Messages. Flags and Codes Summary. Protocol Summary. Class CfsFileStream. Class CfsReadFileStream. Class CfsReadWriteFileStream. Class CfsWriteFileStream. 32. Magnitudes. Kinds of Magnitudes. Categories of Magnitude Messages. Protocol Summary. Class Magnitude. Class Association. Class Character. Class Date. Class Time. 33. Numbers. Kinds of Numbers. Categories of Messages. Generality. Inside Integers and Floats. Numeric Constants Summary. Protocol Summary. Class Number. Class Integer. Class Float. Fraction. 34. Points. Coordinate System. Categories of Point Messages. Protocol Summary. Class Point. 35. Processes. Categories of Classes and Methods. Priorities. Protocol Summaries. Class Block. Class Delay. Class Process. Class ProcessScheduler. Class Semaphore. 36. Rectangles. Categories of Messages. Coordinate System. Normalization. Protocol Summary. Class Rectangle. 37. Streams. Kinds of Stream Classes. Categories of Messages. Protocol Summary. Class Stream. Class PositionableStream. Class ReadStream. Class WriteStream. Class ReadWriteStream. Class EsRandom. 38. System Interfaces. Kinds of Classes. Class EmSystemConfiguration. Class EsCompiler. Class Message. Class DirectedMessage. Class UndefinedObject. Indexes. General. Methods. Classes by Name. Classes by Chapter. Classes by Hierarchy. 080530908XT04062001