Python and Smalltalk

pytalkcompare.txt

Notes about Smalltalk. Smalltalk influenced essentially all of the subsequent object-oriented languages. A few of the modern Smalltalk frameworks include Amber and Seaside which are geared toward web development.

"this is a comment in Smalltalk. we are going to declare and assign variables."

| x y | "declare the variable x and y"
x := 1 "assign x a value of 1"
y:= $q "assign y the character 'q'"

# this is a comment in Python. we are going to declare and assign variables.

x = 1 # declare and assign x a value of 1
y = 'q' # declare and assign y a value of 'q'

********

"printing to the screen in Smalltalk"
Transcript show: 'Hello World'.

# printing to the screen in Python
print('Hello World')

********
"conditional statements in Smalltalk"
x > 1
ifTrue: [Transcript show: 'x is greater than 1'.]
ifFalse: [Transcript show: 'x is less than or equal to 1'.]

# conditional statements in Python
if x > 1:
    print('x is greater than 1')
else: 
    print('x is less than or equal  to 1')

********

"looping in Smalltalk"
| x |
x := 10
x timesRepeat: [Transcript show: 'this is an iteration'.]

1 to: x do: [Transcript show: 'this is an iteration'.]

[x > 5] whileTrue: [x := x + 1. Transcript show: 'this is an iteration'.]

# looping in Python
x = 10

# note: off the top of my head, I don't recall if Python has an equivalent to timesRepeat method in the looping sense. 

while x != 0:
    print('this is an iteration')
    x--

********

# arrays and collections in Smalltalk
| myArray x |
myArray := #(1 2 3 $a $b $c).
x := myArray at: 4
"array indices in Smalltalk begin at 1. the above statement yields $a

# arrays and collections in Python
myList = [1, 2, 3, 'a', 'b', 'c']
x = myList[3]
# list indices in Python begin at 0. the above statement yields 'a'