Lisp, Smalltalk, and the Power of Symmetry | In Search of Secrets
insearchofsecrets.com/2014/08/04/lisp-smalltalk-and-the-power-of-symmetry
What Jamie wrote
Programmers have a lot of languages to choose from, but some stand out above others. Lisp and Smalltalk are two that have reverence above and beyond most languages. Most languages are seen as a tool for a job, but Lisp and Smalltalk have an elegance and beauty that inspire and delight.
The real power of Smalltalk’s object system, including its classes, is not inheritance–it’s reflection. Just as Lisp macros are powerful because they can operate on any Lisp code, including themselves, Smalltalk classes are powerful because they themselves are objects. Smalltalk, like Lisp, runs in the same context it’s written in. It’s objects all the way down.
This article gives a flavor of how programmers see that beauty.