Kay: the core Smalltalk-72 message-passing interpreter concept

What changed

Objects communicating by messages became a concrete language design in early personal computing.

Scientific scope

Kay's initial concept and interpreter account; Ingalls, Kaehler, Goldberg and later Smalltalk-80 separate.

Evidence

The linked sources identify this contribution and its scope. WRS has not independently reconstructed the scientific claims. The record is bounded to Kay’s initial Smalltalk-72 concept and interpreter account. Dan Ingalls, Ted Kaehler, Adele Goldberg and the wider Learning Research Group made essential system, language and environment contributions not assigned here.

Contributors

• Alan C. Kay · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.

• Kay, The Early History of Smalltalk
• Kay, Design Principles Behind Smalltalk

Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.

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