Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!crdgw1!sunbelt!eaker From: eaker@sunbelt.crd.ge.com (Charles E Eaker) Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth Subject: Re: DOER..MAKE Message-ID: <10887@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> Date: 9 Aug 90 15:21:58 GMT References: <9008081745.AA29723@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Sender: news@crdgw1.crd.ge.com Organization: General Electric Corporate R&D Center Lines: 51 In article <9008081745.AA29723@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Mitch Bradley writes: >Similar comments apply to DOES> ; the problems with DOES> were recognized >many years ago ("A New Syntax for Defining Words" Bill Ragsdale, Forth >Dimensions, Vol.2 No.5, Jan. 1981). Thanks for the reference. For some reason I never read this paper. It's quite good. >The appeal of > > make literal? (literal? ;and > >lies in the fact that it is sort of like English. I confess that I am (perhaps fatally) attracted to English-like Forth. What other language allows you to create an application in less than 30 seconds that lets a user step up to the keyboard and type: Total for burger fries and shake is with the total immedately displayed? ( Here's how: ) : is_cost_of create , does> @ + ; : Total 0 ; : is . : : for ; : and ; 250 is_cost_of burger 100 is_cost_of fries 150 is_cost_of shake I'm not suggesting that this can't be done in the pure postfix style. This is merely an example of an English-like application that is easily created with Forth. My problem is that Forth itself is an application I use to create applications and I, like my users, prefer an English-like environment in which to get my work done. In fact, that's a conscious goal which, when achieved, feels as though I've done it The Right Way (e.g., "is_cost_of" above). On the other hand, I appreciate the value of a foundation that is simple, consistent, and regular, and I know how the traditional Forth model fills decompilers and metacompilers with ad hoc-isms that must be expanded with the addition of each new non-postfix-ism. I remain torn. Perhaps there's a cure waiting for me out there somewhere. Thanks for an excellent response. -- Chuck Eaker / P.O. Box 8, K-1 3C12 / Schenectady, NY 12301 USA eaker@sungod.crd.ge.com eaker@crdgw1.UUCP (518) 387-5964