Smalltalk is more than a programming language - it's a whole philosophy. Born in the 1970s at Xerox PARC, it was created by pioneers such as Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg to explore more intuitive collaboration between humans and computers. The result is a language where everything is an object and where code and data coexist in a living, interactive environment.

What makes Smalltalk unique is its image-based development environment. Instead of compiling code from files, you work directly in a running world - you can pause, inspect, modify, and continue running your application without restarting. It's like having a time machine for your code. This dynamic model has influenced many modern languages and environments, from Ruby to Objective-C.

Although Smalltalk is no longer in the limelight, it maintains a passionate community and several active implementations such as Squeak, Pharo, and GNU Smalltalk. For anyone wanting to understand the foundations of object-oriented programming - or simply to experience a different and powerful development model - Smalltalk is a journey worth taking.