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Seminar with Alan Kay on Object Oriented Programming (VPRI 0246)

Yoshiki Ohshima (大島芳樹) · lecture · Watch on YouTube

Software architecture & designTech pioneers & interviewsHistory of computing

What it is

A long recorded seminar in which Alan Kay discusses object-oriented programming, probably from the mid-1980s. He covers the original idea of objects, messaging and the work done at Xerox.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN points to it as primary-source evidence of what Kay meant by objects, which resembled services and message passing rather than modern class-based OOP.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 2 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2017, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “If you want to see what "practical" OOP looked like in the 80s, this is a good video”

    Shows what practical OOP looked like in the 80s

    gambler, 2019-04 · Recommendation · in “Correctness – A paradigm for sustainable software development”

  2. “I found the entire talk worth watching, since a whole set of issues with OOP and Smalltalk”

    Ideas on modularizing OO systems and issues with Smalltalk

    patterns, 2023-12 · Recommendation · in “Design Principles Behind Smalltalk (1981)”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: alan kay, smalltalk, message passing, xerox parc, oop history

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