Smalltalk Plays an Important Part in University’s Curriculum

Currently the course covers such contents as reflection, aspect-oriented programming and prototype-based programming (object orientation without classes, i.e., Self or Javascript).  Since Associate Professor Delgado uses Smalltalk to teach reflection and AOP in dynamic languages, he felt that the course should also include seven two-hour lectures on an introduction to Smalltalk (he uses Java and AspectJ to teach reflection and AOP in static languages).

According to Associate Professor Delgado, who recommends that his students use Cincom® VisualWorks® as one of the two preferred options for their class, “Smalltalk is perfect for teaching reflection, either behavioral or structural, since its reflective capabilities are unparalleled.” The associate professor continues by saying, “Smalltalk’s ‘objects all the way down’ philosophy makes reflection extremely powerful and simple at the same time. Also, the pseudo-variable, thisContext, allows access to the execution stack, which can be explored and/or modified. I simply cannot imagine using any other language to teach reflection.”

For more about the details about the course, please click here.

The Cincom Smalltalk Academic Program

Smalltalk is recognized by the education community as a superior language for teaching students about high-quality systems and object development.

The goal of the Cincom Smalltalk Academic Program is to:

• Increase the quality of the available system design and engineering training,
• Provide higher-quality engineers and developers to the industry and users, and
• Expand the Smalltalk community.

For more information on the Cincom Smalltalk Academic Program, click here.

About the Technical University of Catalonia

The University of Catalonia, which is located in Catalonia, Spain, was founded in March 1971 as the Universitat Politècnica de Barcelona through the merger of engineering and architecture schools that were originally founded during the 19th century. As of 2007, it has 25 schools in Catalonia located in the cities of Barcelona, Castelldefels, Manresa, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Terrassa, Igualada, Vilanova i la Geltrú and Mataró.

The university strives to achieve the highest degree of engineering/technical excellence and has bilateral agreements with several top-ranked European universities.  Also, as of 2012, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia is ranked 77th in the world (and ranked 1st in Spain) in the field of Engineering/Technology according to QS World University Rankings.