> What's the hash mark signify when used as a prefix to a method

> name,

The hash mark signifies that it is a symbol.

Another word for "method name" is "selector". You sometimes see this

in comments in the code. For example, see the method

#addSelector:withMethod: in Behavior. A "selector" is always a

symbol. This means that the name of a method is always a symbol.

If I were writing a paper on Smalltalk and wanted to mention a method

name, I'd probably make it bold face, but when I am using plain ASCII,

like in e-mail or a Smalltalk comment, I'll put a hash mark before the

method name to indicate that it is a symbol.