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From: ForthNet@willett.pgh.pa.us (ForthNet articles from GEnie)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: What's WRONG with Forth?
Message-ID: <2189.UUL1.3#5129@willett.pgh.pa.us>
Date: 2 Jan 91 12:38:30 GMT
Organization: String, Scotch tape, and Paperclips.  (in Pgh, PA)
Lines: 52

Category 2,  Topic 9
Message 39        Mon Dec 31, 1990
LRWEBBER [larry]             at 18:18 EST
 
Brad, I am from southern Indiana; There is/was a FIG chapter in Ft. Wayne
which is about 200 miles north but none here. 

I have been told by another forth "burnout" on another board that I will be
impressed with forth..for awhile. Then, I'm told, as the size and
sophistication of my tasks increase, I would loose my enthusiasm while trying
to figure out where in the hell an unexpected stack parameter causes things to
bomb.

I don't dispute forth requires certain attention to detail, but from what I've
seen so far, it's not insurmountable. At work, on multi programmer jobs, we
all do unit module testing of any code we write or modify. This includes,
among other things, testing every possible branch of code. This is nothing
new. What I find refreshing is that forth allows one to far more easily
perform testing of a module (word) in isolation. Given proper design and
documentation, I've had no problem yet with the stack containing unexpected or
no data/parameters.

The biggest problem I see with forth being accepted in a large way in industry
is:

   1. lack of familiarity with forth from computer science and engineering
      software professionals
   2. lack of ANSI standard for forth (soon to be reolved)
   3. a reputation of being unmaintainable and encryptic
   4. not easily interfacing to commercial libraries of graphics, etc.


I am making these remarks because I am viewing forth as more of a general
purpose language. 'C' language, for example, has literally thousands of
library routines comercially available (some of dubvious quality too).

While I PERSONALLY like forth, if I were the big brass, I'd have trouble
justifying a large and highly visible project for forth. 

By the way, I work at Cummins Electronics, a subsidiary of CUMMINS engine
company. We make electronically controlled fuel systems for the diesel
industry. We do most of our stuff in 'C' and assembler. I also maintain a
vehicle simulation on a PC with digital and analog boards to exercise our
prototype systems. This simulation is done in HS forth.  This is our (my
company and myself) first serious application in forth.

Regards.
-----
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