Smalltalk

A 1993 paper by Alan Kay recounting the early history of the Smalltalk programming language is drawing renewed attention online. The essay traces how Kay and his colleagues at Xerox PARC developed Smalltalk in the 1970s, shaping ideas about object-oriented programming, personal computing and user interfaces that influenced later languages and systems. Readers are revisiting the text as a foundational document of modern software history.

Alan Kay's account of the early history of Smalltalk is drawing renewed attention, tracing how the pioneering object-oriented programming language took shape at Xerox PARC in the 1970s. Readers are revisiting Kay's reflections on personal computing, the Dynabook vision, and the design decisions that shaped modern software, with the piece circulating widely among developers and programming-history enthusiasts.