Visual Smalltalk Enterprise: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox software

| name = Visual Smalltalk Enterprise

| screenshot =

| caption =

| author = Digitalk

| developer = Digitalk (1986–1995), Parc Place Systems (1995-1997)

| discontinued = yes

| latest_release_version = VSE v3.2.0 (a.k.a. VSE2000)

| latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|2000|09}}

| latest preview version =

| latest preview date =

| operating system = [[MS-DOS]], [[Windows]], [[OS/2]]

| language = English

| genre = [[Integrated Development Environment]]

| license = [[Commercial software|Commercial]]

| website = {{URL|cincomsmalltalk.com}}

}}

'''Visual Smalltalk Enterprise''' (VSE) is a [[Smalltalk]] dialect that runs only on Microsoft Windows, and is the last in a long line of Smalltalk implementations first produced by Digitalk and now available through Cincom.

Active development has stopped since late 1997<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hoyer|first1=Henrik|title=Is Cincom slowly killing Visual Smalltalk Enterprice|url=http://forum.world.st/Is-Cincom-slowly-killing-Visual-Smalltalk-Enterprice-td2513847.html|website=SmallTalk forum|accessdate=2015-12-23}}</ref> and VSE is now only available as a version called VSE 2000, and only to licensed users of previous VSE versions.

==History==

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VSE has had a complicated history which starts with a product called Digitalk Smalltalk/V that ran from a DOS prompt and provided a windowing environment.

* Smalltalk/V (1986, [[MS-DOS]])

* Smalltalk/V 286 (1988, [[MS-DOS]])

* Smalltalk/V PM (1989, Presentation Manager under [[OS/2]])

* Smalltalk/V Win (1991, [[Windows 3.x]])

* Visual Smalltalk Enterprise (VSE) (1992, [[Windows 3.x]])

* Visual Smalltalk Enterprise 3.0 (1995, [[Windows 95]])

In reality, beforeBefore Smalltalk/V, therethe wasfirst acommercial Smalltalk product, thefrom firstDigitalk one fromwas Digitalk, namedMethods Methodsreleased in 1983. The windowing interface was not graphically based - instead it drew its windows using special symbols stored in a character format. Further, it predated the use of a mouse to drive the interface.

There have also been versions of Smalltalk/V for the Apple Macintosh and IBM OS/2 operating systems. A version for OS/2 was also available for VSE.

In July 1995 ParcPlace and Digitalk merged, later renaming the company to ObjectShare, and in 1997 the company announced it was moving away from Smalltalk and focus towards Java.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Levez|first1=Belinda|title=Reconstructed timeline for Visual Smalltalk from Digitalk|url=http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/236072.html|website=Google Answers|accessdate=2016-03-20}}</ref>

== PARTS Workbench ==

Visual Smalltalk Enterprise usually comes with another sub-system called the PARTS Workbench. This system allows the layout of components, which can then be connected using a visual representation of event-message links. Programmers can add scripts to particular components and build nested-components. They can also enhance the functionality of the main VSE Smalltalk system and use that within the PARTS Workbench.

Although the PARTS Workbench allows very easy development of small systems (somewhat after the style of Visual Basic) it is argued that it encourages fragmentary development. The natural style of using this system tends to lead to lots ofmany links and scripts - it is not based around the idea of 'model' (as used in '[[Model–View–Controller]]' approaches common in many Smalltalks as well as in other languages). However, as an 'HCI' for programmers, the PARTS Workbench has many features that are not in modern Smalltalks. It has an immediacy that makes it very good for introductory teaching and for rapidly implementing programs with visual interfaces.

==Copyrights, licensing==

A result of the complex history is that the copyright and licensing situation is unclear. Active development on VSE has stopped since around 1999<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hoyer|first1=Henrik|title=Is Cincom slowly killing Visual Smalltalk Enterprice|url=http://forum.world.st/Is-Cincom-slowly-killing-Visual-Smalltalk-Enterprice-td2513847.html|website=SmallTalk forum|accessdate=2015-12-23}}</ref> and a typical recent VSE development environment is made up of many elements many of which were developed by third parties and sold separately but are now included with the distribution.

The situation with the most recent release (VSE 2000) is:

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| Virtual machine

| Seagull

| Seagull owns VSE. Cincom has the right to sell it and provide support. <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://groups.google.co.uk/group/comp.lang.smalltalk/msg/2979f8877244937f?hl=en&|title = Comp.lang.smalltalk - Google Groups}}</ref>

|-

| Base Classes

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| Early employee of Digitalk and significant contributor to Smalltalk/V Win and PM and VSE.

|-

| [[Allen Wirfs-Brock]]

| Chief scientist at Digitalk-ParcPlace. Currently works for [[Mozilla]].

|-

| [[Eric Clayberg]]

| Creator of [[WindowBuilder]] toolkit. Formerly Vice President of Development at Digitalk-ParcPlace. [http://www.smalltalksystems.com/clayberg/resume.htm]. CurrentlyFormerly Vice President of Product Development at Instantiations [http://www.smalltalksystems.com/clayberg/]. Current board member of Instantiations.

|-

| Stephan B. Wessels

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|-

| Dan Rubel

| Worked on Subpanes/V. IsFormer CTO of Instantiations [httphttps://www.instantiationslinkedin.com/companyin/danrubel/staff.html]

|-

| Roxie Rochat

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|-

| Mike Taylor

| Was Vice President of Professional Services at Digitalk. Now he isFormerly CEO and president of Instantiations.[http://www.instantiations.com/company/staff.html] Current board member of Instantiations.

|-

|Tim Rowledge

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*The VSE Mailing List: [http://www.listserv.dfn.de/archives/vswe-l.html VSWE-L]

*[http://www.seagullsoftware.com/ Seagull Software Systems, Inc.]

*Cincom Page about VSE:[http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/userblogs/cincom/blogView?content=vse http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/userblogs/cincom/blogView?content=vse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723005517/http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/userblogs/cincom/blogView?content=vse |date=2011-07-23 }}

*Threads of discussion about copyright and licensing:

**[http://groups.google.co.uk/group/comp.lang.smalltalk/browse_thread/thread/187e48c4b968acf6/2979f8877244937f comp.lang.smalltalk Apr. 2005]

*[http://f.webring.com/t/Smalltalk Smalltalk web ring] Smalltalk products and services.

*[httphttps://vsevs-wikikb.apis.de/] Welcome to the VSE (Visual Smalltalk Enterprise)Knowledge wikiBase!

*[http://www.smalltalking.net/Goodies/VisualSmalltalk/index.htm] Goodies at [http://www.smalltalking.net] Smalltalking web site.

*[http://www.totallyobjects.com/vsfree.htm] Goodies at [http://www.totallyobjects.com/ Totally Objects].