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From: wmb@MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Syntax and natural language
Message-ID: <9103151633.AA08781@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 15 Mar 91 03:15:56 GMT
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Reply-To: wmb%MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM@SCFVM.GSFC.NASA.GOV
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> I don't know if I agree that syntax is a waste of time
> or is harmful. That's getting on the edge of Forth as a
> religion

Let me state this more precisely:  I have personally wasted
a lot of time dealing with syntax problems, and now that I
tend to design things in the Forth "syntax free" style, I
no longer waste that time.  (Ultimately, religion boils down
to personal testimonies, too, I guess.)

> After all, you don't have to like the syntax of
> a language like Pascal or 'C' in order to appreciate how to
> write a compiler for it.  And when you understand that, you
> aren't far from understanding how to processing natural
> languages.

Dealing with the syntax of natural languages is well-understood
and relatively easy.  Dealing with the ambiguity of natural
languages is very very hard.

Mitch Bradley, wmb@Eng.Sun.COM