Pharo
Smalltalk · 2008Actively developedA live Smalltalk environment with an image-based development workflow.
Procedural · Object-oriented
Links
- Homepage
- https://pharo.org/
- Reference / standard
- https://pharo.org/documentation
- Project news
- https://pharo.org/news/
- Wikipedia (English)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharo
Tracked release
- Version
- 13.1
- Artifact
- Image / language distribution
- Published
- 2025-06-26
- Source checked
- 2026-10-22
Use & ecosystem
- Suited for
- Web backends, Desktop applications, Symbolic / logic programming
- Family / tradition
- Smalltalk
- Maturity
- Stable niche
- Ecosystem breadth
- Focused
A maintained distribution and long-lived tooling support Stable niche. Commercial participants are meaningful, but do not establish industry-wide adoption or broad library coverage.
Industry & practical use
Interactive tools, software analysis and Smalltalk applications are characteristic uses. The live image workflow changes how applications are developed and deployed.
Compilers, libraries & tooling
The environment includes browsers, debugger, package tools and a VM. Image contents, native plugins and deployment conventions require attention beyond ordinary source-file compilation.
Platforms & deployment
- General toolchains
- Linux, Windows, macOS
- Specialized tooling
- None catalogued
- Native cross-compilation
- Not the usual deployment model
The VM and images support major desktop/server systems. Native plugins and image compatibility constrain portability.
Applications ordinarily use a target VM and image. Building the VM for another target is separate from compiling ordinary application code.
Project health & support
The Pharo community and industrial consortium support continued development. The core environment and each community package have separate maintenance commitments.
Use, ecosystem & platform assessment reviewed 2026-10-22 · Sources below
History & origin
Pharo began in 2008 as a fork of Squeak, concentrating on an open Smalltalk environment for research and practical development. This entry represents Pharo, not every historical Smalltalk dialect.
- Creators
- Stéphane Ducasse, Marcus Denker, Pharo community
- Origin
- 2008 — Fork from Squeak and beginning of the Pharo project.
Influences & descendants
Influenced by
- Squeakhttps://pharo.org/
Influenced in this catalogue
- No linked entries yet.
Language features
- Typing
- Dynamic
- Execution
- Bytecode VM, JIT
- Block structure
- Explicit delimiters
- Semicolons
- Not statement separators
- Lexical closures
- Yes
- Namespaced modules
- Partial
- Pattern matching
- No
- Macro system
- No built-in macro system
Implementation notes
- Blocks provide lexical closures. Packages organize code but are not uniformly qualified language namespaces. Semicolon cascades messages rather than terminating statements.
Sources & references
- Project overview
- https://pharo.org/
- Language / implementation reference
- https://pharo.org/documentation
Use, ecosystem & platform sources
- Project overview
- https://pharo.org/
- Language / implementation reference
- https://pharo.org/documentation
See the classification definitions for implementation-dependent features. Influence links cover the entries documented here.