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[News] End of an Era: Last update of AmigaTalk (V2.7) uploaded to AminetANN.lu
Posted on 08-Oct-2004 07:10 GMT by Jim Steichen25 comments
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The last update of AmigaTalk (V2.7 - Smalltalk GUI) was uploaded to aminet (what's left of it). I dont' know when it will become available. If you really want it, contact me directly & arrange an upload. Horror of horrors! Jim Steichen, world-renowned Amiga programmer since 1986, is calling it quits & will no longer write programs for the Amiga or its successors. One would think that someone that's stuck with Amiga-brand PCs for close to twenty years would be willing to tough it out for another decade. Sadly this is not the case. Jim has written such great programs as Z80Simulator & ProgrammerAssist, which are entirely committed to the Intuition approach to programming in that they virtually need no documentation to explain how to use the GUI, unlike Windows (tm) programs which have gadgets/buttons that do different things under different circumstances (which is totally confusing). We're going to miss Jim's efforts to create programs & supply programming examples to the Amiga "Community" in the future.

We were graciously granted an interview in order to find out the whys & wherefores of this momentous decision:

Q: What finally drove you over the edge & precipitated this decision?
A: "Two words: INCREDIBLE FRUSTRATION! There's virtually no documentation on important parts of OS3.9, let alone OS4.0! Also, Hyperion chose to use the gcc compiler in their SDK (along with vbcc), neither of which has a GUI-type of debugger for them. Since a programmer spends more time debugging a program than writing it, one would think that a great debugger would be mand- atory for any compiler, especially a C compiler. You only have to look at the long list of programming languages that work on the Amiga & compare it to the number of these compiler/interpreters that have any kind of debugging ability to realize that it's obvioulsy much easier to write a programming language than a debugger."

Q: Will you continue to support the programs that you've already written?
A: "First I would ask, Has anyone done anything to support my efforts? I've received a total of three emails over the years about my software, & these were all bugfix requests. I never expected to get rich programming for the Amiga & I've not been disappointed. I have yet to receive a dime from 18 years of effort. That said, I will send out source code to anyone that asks for it (assuming it's not already posted on aminet). That's as far as I'm going to go."

Q: What is your best program, the one you're most proud of?
A: "That would have to be AmigaTalk (C). It's a GUI environment for the Little Smalltalk V1.0 interpreter. It's also the one I've spent the most time on."

Q: Where can other frustrated Amiga users find your great software?
A: "You can still access my programs at my Website, just click on the Amiga boing ball. Alternatively, you can find most of my programs on Aminet (what's left of it)."

Q: What are you going to do with your Amiga hardware?
A: "I'm going to continue to use the AmigaOne for surfing the internet & playing with Linux, which has a more promising future than AmigaOS 4.0."

Q: What are you going to do with all of your free time that was devoted to Amiga programming?
A: "I'm going to get back into researching & developing electronic hardware for human development such as R.E.M. monitors, consciousness altering devices, etc."

Q: Any last thoughts?
A: "I will be monitoring the Amiga scene from time to time, but I really do not see how it will ever become as good as it was in the 80's. Best of luck guys & gals."

So there you have it folks. A scathing indictment of the computer programming profession, especially as it relates to the Amiga. We can only wonder if MicroSoft will come to their senses before it's too late. Also Hyperion & whoever is really in charge of the Amiga franchise. Tsk, tsk.

List of all comments to this article
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Comment 1Peter Gordon08-Oct-2004 07:45 GMT
Comment 2Coder08-Oct-2004 09:03 GMT
Comment 3Crumb // AATRegistered user08-Oct-2004 09:27 GMT
Comment 4Peter Gordon08-Oct-2004 09:33 GMT
Comment 5Crumb // AATRegistered user08-Oct-2004 09:48 GMT
Comment 6itix08-Oct-2004 09:56 GMT
Comment 7itix08-Oct-2004 09:57 GMT
Comment 8priestRegistered user08-Oct-2004 10:37 GMT
Comment 9miksuh08-Oct-2004 12:29 GMT
Comment 10miksuh08-Oct-2004 12:34 GMT
Comment 11Anonymous08-Oct-2004 12:37 GMT
Comment 12miksuh08-Oct-2004 12:42 GMT
Comment 13miksuh08-Oct-2004 12:46 GMT
Comment 14James Carroll08-Oct-2004 12:49 GMT
Comment 15CoderRegistered user08-Oct-2004 13:56 GMT
Comment 16James Carroll08-Oct-2004 14:20 GMT
Comment 17Jon08-Oct-2004 15:14 GMT
Comment 18CoderRegistered user08-Oct-2004 15:14 GMT
End of an Era: Last update of AmigaTalk (V2.7) uploaded to Aminet : Comment 19 of 25ANN.lu
Posted by MarkTime on 08-Oct-2004 17:41 GMT
this is the first I've heard of this guy...if he wanted feedback, he should have talked a bit...just dumping something to aminet hasn't been a good way fo getting attention for a 5 years, maybe longer.

I bet his site got a lot of hits today....oh well, always they figure it out, 'too late'.

but while I'm sorry amiga won't get another version of smalltalk...well. we'll find a way to survive.
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List of all comments to this article (continued)
Comment 20itix08-Oct-2004 23:31 GMT
Comment 21Arteck09-Oct-2004 01:34 GMT
Comment 22Jim Steichen12-Oct-2004 06:42 GMT
Comment 23Alfred Schwarz12-Oct-2004 11:02 GMT
Comment 24Jim Steichen13-Oct-2004 02:35 GMT
Comment 25Anonymous14-Oct-2004 20:54 GMT
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