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From: ForthNet@willett.pgh.pa.us (ForthNet articles from GEnie)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Forth in the Marketplace
Message-ID: <1489.UUL1.3#5129@willett.pgh.pa.us>
Date: 10 Aug 90 01:03:14 GMT
Organization: String, Scotch tape, and Paperclips.  (in Pgh, PA)
Lines: 47


 Date: 08-06-90 (03:26)              Number: 3618 (Echo)
   To: ALL                           Refer#: NONE
 From: CHRIS WATERS                    Read: (N/A)
 Subj: PUZZLES AND PROBLEMS          Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE

 Gene Lefave writes:

 GL: I find FORTH to be excellent in small companies or departments whe
   : programs are developed by a couple of programmers or software engi
   : on tight schedules.   Granted, it's not that great for algebraic s
   HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

      It would probably be good for larger projects if appropriate
 tools were developed - code libraries, VCS, and the like.  I've
 managed teams of Forth programmers before, and have always felt
 the lack of good management tools.  This is one of my most serious
 objections to the block-oriented file access.  A Forth that used
 standard OS stream files could probably use existing project
 management tools, and would be fully suitable for projects of any
 size - or at least as suitable as a language like C.

      I agree that Forth is weak on algebraic expression, but, as
 Gene mentioned, this is not usually a major part of any given
 software package.  I certainly feel that the limitations of the
 RPN are greatly overemphasized by newcomers to Forth.  Most of the
 Algol-derived languages, like Modula and C, use a semi-random
 mixture of infix and PREFIX notation (for function calls).  At
 least Forth is consistent!  <grin>

      But I would be really interested to hear of people's
 experiences with teams of Forth programmers.  What kinds of
 problems arose, how did you cope with them, etc.  I would
 especially be interested to hear of any project management tools
 people have developed in or for Forth programming.  Tell us of
 your experiences.  If we can't learn from your successes, maybe we
 can learn from your failures!

 Chris

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