Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!pitt!willett!ForthNet From: ForthNet@willett.pgh.pa.us (ForthNet articles from GEnie) Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth Subject: 1990 FORML Message-ID: <2040.UUL1.3#5129@willett.pgh.pa.us> Date: 2 Dec 90 16:59:42 GMT Organization: String, Scotch tape, and Paperclips. (in Pgh, PA) Lines: 49 Category 5, Topic 16 Message 10 Sun Dec 02, 1990 F.SERGEANT [Frank] at 00:01 CST What I Did Over Thanksgiving . I attended my first FORML. I'm very glad I did. I got to meet many of the Forth celebrities and friends whom I knew of through telecomm, etc. and to see other Forth friends from years ago at the L.A. Fig meetings. Those plus others I met at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Francisco in September have made this a memorable and enjoyable fall. . Two outstanding events occurred at FORML: 1. Glen Haydon plopped an alligator onto an overhead projector. 2. Mitch Bradley sang. . Thank god I didn't miss either of those! . I'm not ever leaving home again or I'd plan on attending every future FORML. If I do attend again, I hope I'll remember to arrive thoroughly rested. Unfortunately I was tired to begin with because of some pre-FORML visiting I did in L.A. After we were thrown out of the conference room around midnight each night we adjourned to someone's room where the party continued. I don't know how late, as I tried to get to bed by 2 am and I wasn't the last to leave. . If I agreed with anyone about anything, I'm sorry: it was an oversight and I'll try to correct it in the future. Here is a sample of my disagreements: 1. The size and direction of F-PC. We've already got Turbo Pascal and Turbo C. 2. That there is any sort of standards effort going on at all. It seems to me that X3J14 is really an alternate Forth Modification Laboratory where they don't have quite as much fun as we did at Asilomar. 3. That a senior Forth Inc person thinks Forth is NOT the computer programming language to teach his child. I fear this is merely the tip of an iceberg. 4. I think it is absurd to distribute eforth as a MASM listing. One of the assumptions made is that recipients will already have a PC/XT/AT available. Do I need to connect the dots? Richard Haskell's paper on his trials in implementing eforth for the 68000 using the MASM approach makes a strong case for meta-compilation! The old hex assembly listing had its place when you distributed only a PAPER version. But, when you insist the recipient have a PC anyway, and you are going to supply him with a disk anyway, there is no sense in giving him a MASM listing instead of a Forth listing and meta-compiler. (Of course, I hope no one will agree with me.) -- Frank ----- This message came from GEnie via willett through a semi-automated process. Report problems to: dwp@willett.pgh.pa.us or uunet!willett!dwp Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com