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From: wmb@MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: CASE
Message-ID: <9101291426.AA11316@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 29 Jan 91 01:44:07 GMT
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Reply-To: wmb%MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM@SCFVM.GSFC.NASA.GOV
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> > The think I would like to understand better is, what is the
> > *disadvantage* of having CASE etc, in an extension wordset?  Nobody

> Building control structures, integrating data structures into the
> system, etc. are all part of the same issue: tools for user control
> over compilation. The tools should be there so that people who like

I'm talking about a completely separate issue.  I *entirely* agree that
the tools should be there.

I am NOT arguing AGAINST the tools.  I am arguing FOR the "derived"
construct, IN ADDITION to the tools.


> The Eaker CASE statement is an application

Well, my definition of "application" is something that you go down to
the store and buy because it solves a substantial problem.  Like a
word processor or a tax preparation program or an inventory management
system.

The CASE statement is a language construct; at least that's how 99.9% of
the computer programmers that I know would classify it.

The fact that it can be built in terms of other language constructs
does not affect its utility.

The fact that I can build a flip-flop out of NAND gates does not imply
that a flip flop is not a very useful and important element of my
"design language".  Neither does it imply that NAND gates should be
discarded.

My view is that the more useful stuff we can agree on, the less time that
Forth programmers will spend fooling around reinventing the same wheels
that Forth programmers have been reinventing for the last 10 years.

I want to use Forth to make money.  The more "off the shelf" standard
tools that I can get, the more useful programs I can write, and the
less documentation I have to write about the "custom" tools that I
had to build.

Mitch Bradley, wmb@Eng.Sun.COM