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Comment by thrdbndndn | Hacker News Reader

As someone who learn programming relatively late, the only thing i know about Smalltalk is it highly influenced Python. However, I just checked Wikipedia article about Python [1], it has no mention of Smalltalk. Did I just remember it wrong or there is more to it?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_(programming_language)

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> the only thing i know about Smalltalk is it highly influenced Python

Which is wrong. See e.g. http://python-history.blogspot.com/2013/10/origin-of-metacla...: "I was only vaguely aware of Smalltalk at the time; I remember being surprised by its use of metaclasses (which is quite different from that in Python or Ruby!) when I read about them much later."

I think you remembered it wrong. I personally have never heard of such a connection. Python is somewhat notorious for ignoring languages like ML, Lisp/Scheme, and Smalltalk dialects.

Thanks, probably just remembered it wrong.

Which language influenced Python most, if there is one?

"Python's predecessor, ABC, was inspired by SETL -- Lambert Meertens spent a year with the SETL group at NYU before coming up with the final ABC design!" --Guido van Rossum

https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2000-August/008...

I have heard that ABC was worked on by Van Rossum, and that it influenced a lot of his design choices in python.

What you may be misremembering is the fact that Smalltalk was a profound influence on Ruby.

Also heavily influenced by C, its first implementation language. Many modules and interfaces are thin wrappers to C. Think os, socket, select, string method names, etc.

It’s Ruby that was influenced by small talk, especially its approach to OOP.

Also it influenced Objective-C[0] - it's mostly C with message passing added to it.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective-C

I wasn’t aware of a Python connection (not saying there isn’t one) but Smalltalk definitely influenced Ruby. I think if it as a more direct descendent with the way objects pervade it and how “everything is an expression.”

Yes, Yukihiro Matsumoto, who created Ruby, took inspiration from Smalltalk and Perl, among other languages.

Ruby is the one heavily influenced by Smalltalk. Python I am not so sure.

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