Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!willett!ForthNet
From: ForthNet@willett.UUCP (ForthNet articles from GEnie)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Vocabularies
Message-ID: <700.UUL1.3#5129@willett.UUCP>
Date: 22 Mar 90 23:46:22 GMT
Organization: Latest link in the ForthNet chain.  (Pgh, PA)
Lines: 34


 Date: 03-18-90 (00:36)              Number: 3056 (Echo)
   To: STEVE WHEELER                 Refer#: NONE
 From: CHRIS WATERS                    Read: NO
 Subj: HEADLESS CONSTANTS            Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE

 SW( >A warning is in order here.

 SW( I agree.  A few years ago, the Forth we offered our customers was
 SW( "vanilla" Laxen & Perry, and one of our customers had an application
 SW( which didn't work because he was presuming that the number conversio
 SW( side effects (DPL, etc.) would be consistent for all numbers.  Since
 SW( then, we have added more constants to the kernel in ROM, but they ar
 SW( all headerless.

    Hmm, seems like a "cutting off your nose..." type of response.
 After all, the customer made what was, at the time, an invalid
 assumption.  And his application will still fail if run on many other
 Forth systems, or even if someone defines a new numeric constant at
 his site and his application references it.  He should find another
 solution, such as setting default values for the flags before
 attempting number conversion.  Then you could provide all the
 constants you wanted in the kernel, and they could be used in other
 applications.  ;-)

 Chris

 -> MegaMail(tm) #0:the plural of paradox is paradise
    1.12

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