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From: collinge@uvicctr.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: Debugging in Forth
Message-ID: <310@uvicctr.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 14-Aug-87 00:39:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: uvicctr.310
Posted: Fri Aug 14 00:39:47 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Aug-87 16:31:59 EDT
References: <3281@sdcc6.ucsd.EDU>
Reply-To: collinge@uvicctr.UUCP (Doug Collinge)
Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria B.C. Canada
Lines: 28

In article <3281@sdcc6.ucsd.EDU> ir230@sdcc6.ucsd.EDU (john wavrik) writes:
>>Tim Born writes:
>>My fondness for Forth has waned in recent months...
> 
>   The main secret to debugging in Forth lies in making maximum use of the
>interactive nature of the language... 

Much to my amazement, I have found this, too.  I was a somewhat reluctant
user of Forth initially, scared off by all those things everyone hates
about Forth, but now that I have made several fairly large systems in it
I have to agree, getting things to work is just EASIER in Forth.  Even
without ANY debugging tools at all.  Indeed, who needs them?  I've done
about three fairly complex things now - all done in a coffee and beer
stupor in about 36 straight hours, with my friend and me prodding each
other to keep awake - and they have all come up smoothly, without a hitch.
In every case, the major glitches were eventually traced to hardware
problems - debugging tools aren't going to help you there!

I have found myself taking my good Forth habits to my C coding and producing
the same good results, except that it all so much more tedious in C...
-- 
		Doug Collinge
		School of Music, University of Victoria,
		PO Box 1700, Victoria, B.C.,
		Canada,  V8W 2Y2  
		collinge@uvunix.BITNET
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