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From: tenney@well.UUCP (Glenn S. Tenney)
Newsgroups: net.lang.forth
Subject: Re: Forth standards
Message-ID: <848@well.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 27-Mar-86 05:08:46 EST
Article-I.D.: well.848
Posted: Thu Mar 27 05:08:46 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 20-Apr-86 11:24:57 EST
References: <295@sdcc7.UUCP> <2963@sunybcs.UUCP> <437@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU>
Reply-To: tenney@well.UUCP (Glenn S. Tenney)
Organization: Whole Earth Lectronic Link, Sausalito CA
Lines: 24
Keywords: documentation standards

The best way to learn FORTH is definitely NOT by implementing it.
Unless you have the good fortune to work with someone that really
knows what he/she is doing, you are likely to get caught up in your
own ignorance.  I once saw an implementation that did not include
CREATE ... DOES> because either the person didn't understand how to use
it, how to code it or didn't think it was worthwhile.    If you are
basing your implementation on an existing one, that can also be a problem.
I have seen many bad implementations which would only teach you how to
do it wrong.  But only if you knew enough to know it was wrong.

Now, if you have a good implementation and/or a guru to assist, then
this is an excellent way to learn the internals of FORTH (but still
not necessarily how to code an application in FORTH since the kernel
is a lot different from an application).

(( I've been using FORTH for something like 6 or 7 years and implemented
a few versions and am also a referee of the FORTH Standards Team, so I
have some reason to say what I said even if its wrong.))

-- Glenn Tenney 
UUCP: {hplabs,glacier,lll-crg,ihnp4!ptsfa}!well!tenney
ARPA: well!tenney@LLL-CRG.ARPA        Delphi and MCI Mail: TENNEY
As Alphonso Bodoya would say... (tnx boulton)
Disclaimers? DISCLAIMERS!? I don' gotta show you no stinking DISCLAIMERS!