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Remembering a quote from Alan Kay

Asked 2008-12-10T22:20:53.227
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Alan Kay was quoted several years ago to the effect that there had been only three new things in software in the preceding 20 years (effectively the lifespan of PCs). One of them was Spreadsheets.

Does anyone remember the other two?

Who is Alan Kay? (a few may ask.) His work at Xerox Parc arguably did more to shape our current software paradigm than any other influence.

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Alan Kay invented Smalltalk. In so doing, he can be said to have invented object oriented programming, although there are important precursors to Smalltalk in that regard.

Simula, a language form the 1960s for writing simulations was one. another was Planner, a language invented by Carl Hewitt of MIT. Alan Kay specifically gives credit to Hewitt for influencing him while he was at Xerox PARC.

answered 2009-02-14T18:48:11.170

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