Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!ames!pacbell!noe!marc
From: marc@noe.UUCP (Marc de Groot)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: Success of FORTH in the marketplace
Message-ID: <657@noe.UUCP>
Date: 20 Jul 89 22:19:16 GMT
References: <33300@apple.Apple.COM>
Sender: root@noe.UUCP
Reply-To: marc@noe.UUCP (Marc de Groot)
Organization: Noe Systems, San Francisco
Lines: 54

In article <33300@apple.Apple.COM> landon@Apple.COM (Landon Dyer) writes:
>So what have YOU successfully used FORTH for?

I was the technical brains behind the use of Forth at Unison World, Inc.
in Berkeley.  We developed and sold video games for the Japanese market.
That was 1982, and the hardware platforms were mostly Z80's and CP/M.
We wrote and sold about twenty games in the first year, one per programmer.
I told the owner that minimum time-to-market was an important goal for
us and Forth suited that goal admirably.  After some successful games had
been written we ported our Forth system to the 6809 and 8086 and put
the games right on top.

After that I went to a company in Berkeley where I brought in Forth
to do the software for a high-end paint box.  Forth is still being
used by the descendent of that company to do diagnostics and software
prototyping.

I wrote a compiler for a computer language which produced computer-aided
tutorials.  I ported the compiler from CP/M to the Apple ][ in one
weekend.  The other bidder on the project was STILL waiting for his
back-ordered C compiler to arrive via Fed Ex by the time I finished
the project.

I used Forth to write an interactive real-time music editor based
around the Roland Compumusic CMU-800.  I custom-wired the Apple ][
interface card into my S-100 system.

I have written pattern-recognition software in Forth on small systems.
Back at a time when interactive debuggers were not available for C,
Forth was the ONLY choice.  Most programs produce output that is
either obviously flawed or not.  Some programs, such as my pattern
recognition and prediction program, may work "part-way" even though
there is an error in coding.  The project wouldn't have gotten done
if I hadn't had a way to customize the behavior of my software AND
MY DEBUGGER on the fly.

My most recent success with Forth was as a contract programmer.  I worked
at a company which produces mass spectrometers.  The data acquisition system
for the machine was written in Forth.  Statistical analyses and matching
against a large substance database were parts of the package.  Full windowing/
mouse interface software was used.  There was 14 megabytes of source, written
over six years time by both long-term employees and short-term contractors.
It was READABLE.  There were comments on every line.  The package performed
as well or better than other packages written in C or Fortran for other
product lines at the company.  And here's the kicker:  An end-user interface
was provided so that the scientists in the field could write their own
Forth programs to customize the mass spectrometer.  The product has been
enthusiastically accepted by their customers!

-- 
Marc de Groot (KG6KF)                   These ARE my employer's opinions!
Noe Systems, San Francisco
UUCP: uunet!hoptoad!noe!marc
Internet: marc@kg6kf.AMPR.ORG