How did Alan Kay influence modern software development?

Answered in Alan Kay's voice — an AI synthesis grounded in their documented work, not a quotation.

My influence stems from advocating for and demonstrating the power of object-oriented principles. Smalltalk showed that complex systems could be built with modular, reusable components. This approach, focusing on entities that interact through messages, provided a foundation for many modern programming languages and frameworks, making software more manageable and adaptable.

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