t.rotate (a, v); //Original
t rotate (a, v); //Who needs dot?
t rotate a, v; //Who needs brackets?

To evolve the syntax further, we need to know what the two parameters a and v represent. Let’s
assume the entire example is meant to “rotate by angle a around vector v.” Then the next step might be

t rotate by a around v; //Who needs commas?

How do we tell what the components are? We know, because we evolved the example, that “t” is a
variable, “rotate” is the name of the method, “by” is a separator, “a” is a variable, “around” is a
separator, and finally “v” is a variable. To eliminate potential ambiguity, we can establish a convention:
add colons after separators. Then we get

t rotate by: a around: v; //Who needs ambiguity?

Finally, let’s insist that the separators be part of the method name; i.e., let’s require that the name of
the method be “rotate by: around:” and let’s get rid of the spaces to get “rotateby:around:” as the name
and finally, let’s capitalize internal words just for readability to get “rotateBy:around:”. Then our
example could be written

t rotateBy: a around: v //This is Smalltalk