Alan Kay, Pionier in Sachen objekt-orientierter Programmierung, gibt am 10. Oktober 1998 auf einer Mailingliste folgendes zu Protokoll:
Folks —
Just a gentle reminder that I took some pains at the last OOPSLA to try to remind everyone that Smalltalk is not only NOT its syntax or the class library, it is not even about classes. I’m sorry that I long ago coined the term “objects” for this topic because it gets many people to focus on the lesser idea.
The big idea is “messaging” — that is what the kernal of Smalltalk/Squeak is all about (and it’s something that was never quite completed in our Xerox PARC phase).
Oje, eine ganze Industrie hat sich während Jahrzehnten einer unwichtigen Idee an den Hals geworfen und Schlösser auf Sand gebaut, ganze Paläste gar.