The use of Smalltalk-80 for the rapid prototyping of advanced control systems

The authors describe their personal experiences in developing an advanced control system using the object oriented programming (OOP) language Smalltalk-80. The emphasis is placed on the use of the language rather than on the details of the solution. They begin by describing the problem being simulated: an intelligent system identification supervisor (ISIS) for adaptive control applications. The choice of programming language is then described, concentrating on the requirements of the language and the justification for the selection of Smalltalk-80. An overview of the development of ISIS is then presented, concentrating on the approach adopted and giving selected example classes. Lastly a review of the experiences of using Smalltalk-80 is presented showing both the advantages and disadvantages of the language