In a great presentation, Alan Kay reminds us that the purpose of education in a republic is to produce citizens who are capable of critical, rational thought.
I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education.
Thomas Jefferson
Yet no one remembers this…
[Teachers, principles and school boards] think schooling is set up for vocational training or dealing with social problems.
Alan Kay
Verdict
This is the best programming book I’ve ever read – and I’ve read them all – in C, C++, Ruby, and Smalltalk.Summary
It’s definitely not a basic book – but it’s not complicated either (although it gets pretty deep). In fact, while the code is all Smalltalk, it’s not about the language at all. It could be called “Zen and the Art of Smalltalk”. It gets at the heart of what it takes to go from an intention to create something, in a world we don’t really understand, to a successful outcome, that is simple, beautiful, efficient, and easily evolved.
Final Thoughts
I’m still gnawing on much of it (I just finished it a few days ago), but my viewpoint on programming has irreversibly shifted and, as Alan Kay says, “Point of view is worth 80 IQ points”. I think the programming world would be a better place if everyone read this book… I can’t believe I just gave a Reading Rainbow book report. My life is complete.
This is a fascinating book with this claim: world-class performance seems to have little connection to innate talent (which may not even exist), general ability (like IQ), or years of experience. The only factor supported by the evidence is the number of hours of “deliberate practice,” which must be designed for improvement, repeatable, usually includes a teacher, and is often not fun. I’m still taking it all in after several days.
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