Object-oriented software specialist ParcPlace Systems, Palo Alto, California is amongst the many software developers interested in DEC’s new DECstation 3100, the recently launched Ultrix-only workstation based on a processor from MIPS Computer Systems Inc. ParcPlace, a spin-off formed by technical developers and researchers from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, demonstrated a version of its Smalltalk-80 development environment for the DECstation at its US launch in San Jose, California last month, and says the new version will be available in the second quarter of this year. The company already has versions of the product for Unix, Mac OS and MS-DOS operating systems using Motorola, Intel and Sun Sparc processors, and is predicting a renewed interest in the pioneering language now that it is more widely available. We began selling at the end of 1986, but Smalltalk was not offered out of Xerox itself until mid-1988, said ParcPlace spokeswoman Helene Tannor. The graphics-oriented environment enables a user to program by selecting code modules from a reusable library, and by using built-in applications and simulations – useful for the rapid development of prototypes. Links to subroutines in other languages, such as C, are also possible. According to ParcPlace president and chief executive Adele Goldberg, the firm is also working on a VAX version of the product.
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