Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!dsl.pitt.edu!pitt!willett!dwp
From: dwp@willett.pgh.pa.us (Doug Philips)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: Libraries for Forth
Message-ID: <1637.UUL1.3#5129@willett.pgh.pa.us>
Date: 29 Aug 90 12:11:26 GMT
References: <1990Aug17.071455.29925@idacom.uucp>
Organization: String, Scotch tape, and Paperclips.  (in Pgh, PA)
Lines: 47

In <1990Aug17.071455.29925@idacom.uucp>, rob@idacom.uucp (Rob Chapman) writes:
> ( FUG excerpt: Aug 14,1990 )
> 				Libraries

I really like your scheme.  It does remind of the "vocabulary trees" in
Fifth, but I don't know that language well enough to make the comparison.

> Applications are built in the modules while the tools reside in the libraries.
> 
> When a library is opened, its words are inserted at the top of the Forth
> word list.  This gives them priority in any naming conflicts.  By opening
> libraries in the proper sequence, libraries are effectively stacked into
> the Forth wordlist.

I'm a bit confused here.  Are you saying that Modules are just libraries
with application code in them, or are they different from libraries?

>  Around Forth-83, a second generation dictionary mechanism was proposed. 
>  This threw away the heirarchial dictionary tree provided by earlier efforts
>  and replaced it with a dictionary stack.  Definitions were added to the
>  vocabulary which was on top of the stack and the whole stack was searched
>  when looking up words.

I'm not sure I see the difference.  Are Forth-83 vocabularies conceptually
like your libraries?  The biggest difference I see is that in Forth-83 all
vocabulary names are global, where in your scheme you scoped library
names.  Am I missing something else?

> ANSI-Forth Wordsets as Libraries
>  These wordsets or libraries sit behind Forth giving it power and depth if
>  needed, but may be tucked away to keep the core simple when they are not
>  used.  Applications can now be built on the other side of Forth where they
>  belong.

I like.  When BASIS13 comes out (I have BASIS11, and am loath to refer to
an old BASIS for what is current) I'll have to take a look at how the
Search Order Word Set works...

Thanks for making that posting.  It looks like a nice clean system.
Have you been using it long?  (BTW:  Just curious, do you have any
idea as to the number of botForth users?).

-Doug

---
Preferred: ( dwp@willett.pgh.pa.us  OR  ...!{sei,pitt}!willett!dwp )
Daily: ...!{uunet,nfsun}!willett!dwp  [last resort: dwp@vega.fac.cs.cmu.edu]