 <p>You can use so-called <em>keyword-messages</em>. You end a method with a colon and put the variable name after that (probably multiple times).</p> <p>So if you have something like <code>methodFoo(a, b, c)</code> in a curly-brace language, in Smalltalk you typically write</p> <pre><code>methodFoo: a withSomething: b containing: c </code></pre> <p>or likewise. This can make method names more readable, too!</p> <p>Also, getters and setter in Smalltalk typically are named after the variable they are representing. (And classes are typically capitalized while variables are not)</p> <p>So your example would turn into</p> <pre><code>Object subclass: Test [ | testvar | testvar: anObject [ testvar := anObject. ] testvar [ ^testvar ] ]. test := Test new. test testvar: 'my value'. test testvar print. " prints 'my value' " </code></pre>