Programmer's Reference


IBM Smalltalk overview

VisualAge is a development environment designed to support the easy creation of software applications on multiple platforms. IBM Smalltalk provides a platform-independent application program interface (API) based on industry standards. VisualAge was built using IBM Smalltalk.

Comprising nine subsystems, IBM Smalltalk encompasses the functionality required by most Smalltalk applications. Applications programmed entirely in accordance with the IBM Smalltalk interface specification run without modification on all supported platforms, yet adopt the native look and feel of the particular platform. This enables applications to be produced from a single code base across multiple platforms, while still providing a high degree of platform integration.

IBM Smalltalk directly utilizes the native functionality provided by each platform. IBM Smalltalk emulates API functionality not directly supported by a particular platform in order to support a complete and consistent interface across all supported platforms. As part of the implementation of IBM Smalltalk, access to platform-specific functionality is also provided.


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