Smalltalk

Alan Kay's 1993 paper on the early history of Smalltalk, the pioneering object-oriented programming language developed at Xerox PARC, is being widely read and shared again. The essay recounts how Smalltalk took shape in the 1970s and shaped modern ideas of personal computing, graphical interfaces, and object-oriented design. Readers are revisiting it as a foundational document of computing 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.