Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!touch!mikeh
From: mikeh@touch.touch.com (Mike Haas)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: ANS Forth
Message-ID: <222@touch.touch.com>
Date: 31 May 91 21:56:19 GMT
References: <9105291726.AA13694@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: Touch Communications
Lines: 40

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>Key accepts anything with 7 bits.


KEY needs to do better than that.  The rest of the world, where real computing
is happening has passed ASCII long ago.  most new standards have had the
forsight to make 0-7f compatible with ASCII...this greatly assists PRIMITIVE
7-bit systems to make a transition...but is it taken advantage of?

I swear, I've seen this kind of thinking in the forth community too long.  While
other languages are being used to develop multi-media, networking, file-sharing,
and other state-of-the-art commercial packages, forth folks argue about shadow
screens and whether KEY should accept more than 7 bits.

BLOCK is a joke...far outlived it's usefulness from the days when there were
no operating systems to run under (or ones that were there too pitiful to
use).  It's main effect these days is to alienate industry leaders from
looking at forth because it's too wierd.  fortgh needs files, period.  I like
using real editors.

I had occasion to examine the software products of DEC a few years ago... had
'em all but forth.  VMS-C, PASCAL, BASIC, FORTRAN, you name it...it's there.

I haven't gotten into a discussion of what forth 'needs' for a long time,
and I won't be eager to participate past this message.  This is because
the mindset of those who restrict forth to outmoded concepts is cast in
stone.  Everybody picks their pet peeve (usually the subject related to
theirt own 'custom' implementation of CASE or whatever) and provokes
discussion as though it were the most important aspect of forth as a language
...the very reason it will live or die.  Well, my ONE-TIME-ONLY opinion is that
the big issues have to do with forth's perception by the rest of the
programming world, and our insistence to standby old, outdated concepts is
spelling our demise, especially in areas where that world has provided
excellent solutions (file systems and graphic character sets) and we
REFUSE to listen.

7-bit ASCII, indeed.  let's wind our watches 'cause they're running a little
slow.  Or maybe forth isn't as extensible as we think, huh?

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