Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!apple!fox!portal!cup.portal.com!Paktor
From: Paktor@cup.portal.com (David L Paktor)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: porting an MS-DOS Forth to a 386 Unix/Xenix
Message-ID: <24747@cup.portal.com>
Date: 6 Dec 89 06:20:22 GMT
References: <1989Nov20.211822.1015@tree.uucp> <5317@sdcc6.ucsd.edu>
  <6420@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 50


stever@tree.uucp (Steve Rudek) writes:
> I said all that and I got . . . silence.  Doesn't anyone knowledgeable who
> reads this group share my interest in getting F83 or F-PC or some other
> good Forth to run on a 386 Unix??

Don't be so pessimistic, Stevie, old chum.  I, for one, have been up to my
    ears in doggie-poo-poo (Un*x, to be exact...  --  These are the people
    who complain that Forth is obscure????? --  but I digress...), and
    haven't had much time or opportunity to catch up on my net.reading
    and am only stealing a few cycles to do a little of same now...

I would have been glad to mention good ol' Mitch Bradley, and Tom Zimmer's
    F-PC (Tom doesn't read the net, BTW), but I see someone has already
    beat me to it.  Another good party to contact is JAX  (a.k.a. Jack
    Woehr), who is a frequent contributor to this group...

In article <6420@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM>  toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy)
    writes:

>   Why is it that people are willing to pay good money for other languages,
>   but expect to get good Forths for free?  Why did I decide to make a few
>   bucks (and *very* few) with Forth when I could have made it rich with a
>   "politically correct" language used by people with $money$?

I won't even *begin* to attempt to answer the "Why" question, but I will
    venture to dispute the issue of which language is more "politically
    correct"...  (As opposed to "commercially popular" about which there
    is, sadly, no room to dispute.)  I venture to suggest that, by virtue
    of its "underdog" position, and the fact that people expect it for
    free, and are often willing to give it away for free (not to disparage
    your and others' valiant efforts to wring a few hard-earned bucks from
    it), Forth is the more democratic, and hence "politically correct" of
    the two.  Note that this line of reasoning (if such a lofty word can be
    applied to the pigsty realm of politics...) does not begin to take into
    account the actual virtues of Forth...

Am I willing to defend this position?   Naaaahhhhh!  Let me just leave with
    an observation that in computers, as in many other areas, technical ex-
    cellence is approximately inversely proportional to commercial success.

David

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  === Mister Systems ===    |   "You know the times
      David L Paktor        |    you impress me the most
                            |    are the times when you don't try;
  Paktor@cup.Portal.com     |    when you don't even try."  -- Joni Mitchell
                            |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~