Smalltalk Still the Winner!

Recently a blog titled “Smalltalk’s Proven Productivity” by Richard Eng referenced a paper written by Capers Jones of Namcook Analytics. You may recognize Jones as a long-time expert and author of studies that compare programming languages, including productivity measures.

Jones’s paper, which is titled “Function Points as a Universal Software Metric,” studies many factors contributing to the overall value of a programming language over the full lifecycle of its use. According to Jones, “Function point metrics are the most accurate and effective metrics yet developed for software sizing and also for studying software productivity, quality, costs, risks and economic value.”

The paper discusses the fact that although there are some very productive items available such as Excel and SQL—which are specialized—Smalltalk comes out on top for general-purpose programming languages.

Jones’s paper is a more recent evaluation of language productivity. Smalltalk comes out very high in function points per month with fewer lines of code.  This results in less code and less maintenance with more value and a more easily understood language.

Customers want support from Cincom for challenges they receive on why they are using Smalltalk as well as validation from someone other than the vendor that they are making the right choice. This paper provides great validation information for folks who are asking, “Why should I use Smalltalk?” or, “Why am I still using Smalltalk?” The answer to this question is simple: because Smalltalk still gives you the greatest overall return on investment or biggest bang for the buck!