The Misunderstood Origins of OOP: Setting the Record Straight

This article debunks the common misconception that Alan Kay invented both object-oriented programming (OOP) and the concept of objects. In reality, the Simula language was a significant precursor to OOP, a fact acknowledged by the Smalltalk team. While Kay coined the term "objects," he later regretted it, emphasizing message passing as the core idea of OOP. The article further explores Smalltalk's unique contributions to OOP, particularly its design principle of treating everything as an object and its innovative message-handling mechanism. The author argues that OOP's evolution wasn't a singular event but a confluence of ideas and needs, with different developers understanding and applying OOP differently in various contexts.