> If you're used to Java or C++, this object-oriented code may look strange, especially since Smalltalk uses some strange characters. <

It's Smalltalk-76 that uses some strange characters.

The version that made it out of the lab into the wide-world was Smalltalk-80.

edited With help from Paolo Bonzini, Smalltalk-80 syntax for that square root code would be something more qwerty-friendly like:

    sqrt
       | guess |
       (self <= 0.0) ifTrue: [
          (self = 0.0) 
             ifTrue: [^0.0] 
             ifFalse: [self error: 'sqrt invalid for x < 0.']
          ].
       guess := self timesTwoPower: self exponent // -2.
       5 timesRepeat: [guess := (self - (guess*guess)) / (guess*2.0) + guess].
       ^guess

"I Can Read C++ and Java But I Can’t Read Smalltalk" pdf

http://carfield.com.hk/document/languages/readingSmalltalk.p...