ARK (Alternate Reality Kit)
Who : R.B. Smith (1986 - 1992)
What : 2D animated environment for creating interactive simulations, implemented in Smalltalk-80
Why : to teach users about the fundamental laws of physics and allow non-expert programmers to develop interactive simulations
objects have visual representation, mass, and velocity
laws of nature are themselves objects which can be manipulated and changed
main components : interactors, message boxes, buttons, menus, objects, the hand
multiple alternate realities are contained within a meta-reality (analogous to windows and desktop)
tension between magic and literalism
underlying Smalltalk objects can be accessed through Representatives
recent work has involved developing a distributed version called SharedARK