Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!willett!dwp
From: dwp@willett.UUCP (Doug Philips)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: Spurious analogy
Message-ID: <1276.UUL1.3#5129@willett.UUCP>
Date: 4 Jul 90 14:54:24 GMT
References: <9007040417.AA28460@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: String, Scotch tape, and Paperclips.  (in Pgh, PA)
Lines: 32

wmb@MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM, in <9007040417.AA28460@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, writes:

> 1) The points of contention under discussion (NOT and / appear to be the big
>    culprits) are not divided "one vendor against the rest of the world".
>    They are divided about 50-50, and are generally points where Forth-79
>    and Forth-83 disagree.
> ...
> 3) ANS Forth has not "invented a 30-sided wrench".  ANS Forth has noted
>    that 2 flavors of wrenches ALREADY EXIST, LIKE IT OR NOT, and has
>    DOCUMENTED the range of usage in which either of the two flavors
>    can be used interchangeably.
> ...
> Perhaps some people have gotten stuck in a "complain, no matter what"
> mode.

Mitch, although I tend to agree with your philosophy of the way the TC
is going about things, I think a lot of good would come from getting
away from merely asserting things and actually showing them.  I don't
think that people are necessarily complaining, no matter what (although
that is probably true for some of them).  Rather I think it is more a
matter of lack of information.  Maybe also coupled with an adversarial
attitude ("Prove I'm Wrong," instead of "Here is the Proof of Why I Am
Right").  I suspect that such an attitude may be justifiable, but
one could always hope that the committee (and those of us sniping at them
from the sidelines) would rather spend their efforts working together
towards understandings and solutions rather than fighting turf wars.

-Doug

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