Visual Smalltalk Enterprise


Visual Smalltalk Enterprise is a Smalltalk dialect that runs only on Microsoft Windows, and is the last in a long line of Smalltalk implementations first produced by Digitalk and now available through Cincom.
Active development has stopped since late 1997 and VSE is now only available as a version called VSE 2000, and only to licensed users of previous VSE versions.

History

VSE has had a complicated history which starts with a product called Digitalk Smalltalk/V that ran from a DOS prompt and provided a windowing environment.
Before Smalltalk/V, the first commercial Smalltalk product from Digitalk was Digitalk Methods released in 1983. The windowing interface was not graphically based - instead it drew its windows using special symbols stored in a character format. Further, it predated the use of a mouse to drive the interface.
There have also been versions of Smalltalk/V for the Apple Macintosh and IBM OS/2 operating systems. A version for OS/2 was also available for VSE.
In July 1995 ParcPlace and Digitalk merged, later renaming the company to ObjectShare, and in 1997 the company announced it was moving away from Smalltalk and focus towards Java.

PARTS Workbench

Visual Smalltalk Enterprise usually comes with another sub-system called the PARTS Workbench. This system allows the layout of components, which can then be connected using a visual representation of event-message links. Programmers can add scripts to particular components and build nested-components. They can also enhance the functionality of the main VSE Smalltalk system and use that within the PARTS Workbench.
Although the PARTS Workbench allows very easy development of small systems it is argued that it encourages fragmentary development. The natural style of using this system tends to lead to lots of links and scripts - it is not based around the idea of 'model'. However, as an 'HCI' for programmers, the PARTS Workbench has many features that are not in modern Smalltalks. It has an immediacy that makes it very good for introductory teaching and for rapidly implementing programs with visual interfaces.

Copyrights, licensing

A result of the complex history is that the copyright and licensing situation is unclear and a typical recent VSE development environment is made up of many elements many of which were developed by third parties and sold separately but are now included with the distribution.
The situation with the most recent release is:
ElementCopyright HolderLicense
Virtual machineSeagullSeagull owns VSE. Cincom has the right to sell it and provide support.
Base ClassesUnknownUnknown
ObjectShare ClassesCincomIncludes WindowBuilder, various WidgetKits, GF/ST, etc. As such, Cincom can do anything it wants with those products.
Profile/VKent BeckOpen Source, under the CPL 1.0 license. A performance profiler. Not actually part of the VSE distribution.

People

A partial list of people that worked at Digitalk/ParcPlace on VSE:
PersonComments
George BosworthCo-founder of Digitalk and co-creator of Smalltalk/V. Inventor of Ephemerons. Worked later on the garbage collector in the Microsoft.Net.
Jim AndersonCo-founder of Digitalk and co-creator of Smalltalk/V.
Mike TengCo-founder of Digitalk and co-creator of Smalltalk/V.
Barbara NoparstakCo-founder of Digitalk.
Lee BreisacherEarly employee of Digitalk and significant contributor to Smalltalk/V Win and PM and VSE.
Allen Wirfs-BrockChief scientist at Digitalk-ParcPlace. Currently works for Mozilla.
Eric ClaybergCreator of WindowBuilder toolkit. Formerly Vice President of Development at Digitalk-ParcPlace. . Formerly Vice President of Product Development at Instantiations . Current board member of Instantiations.
Stephan B. WesselsDigitalk Professional Services, frameworks development. , .
Suzanne FortmanDigitalk Marketing. Came back to Cincom as Smalltalk Program Director.
Gary GregoryWorked on VSE, PARTS, the VM and database interfaces. Now works at Seagull Software .
Dan RubelWorked on Subpanes/V. Former CTO of Instantiations
Roxie RochatWorked on Subpanes/V. Now works for Stoaks Software.
Bart WellerWorked on Subpanes/V.
Ken CooperWorked on Subpanes/V. Got hired by Microsoft in 1997.
Ted PetersWorked on Subpanes/V. Also got hired by Microsoft in 1997.
Mike TaylorWas Vice President of Professional Services at Digitalk. Formerly CEO and president of Instantiations. Current board member of Instantiations.
Tim RowledgeWorked on a lot of Smalltalk stuff at ParcPlace Systems Inc. Now works on Squeak.