Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!cmcl2!lanl!unm-la!unmvax!nmtsun!clifford
From: clifford@nmtsun.nmt.edu (Clifford Adams)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: Dick Pountain: Object-Oriented Forth ?
Keywords: Forth OOP
Message-ID: <1431@nmtsun.nmt.edu>
Date: 11 Nov 88 23:56:31 GMT
References: <794@euraiv1.UUCP>
Reply-To: clifford@nmtsun.nmt.edu (Clifford Adams)
Organization: New Mexico Tech, Socorro NM
Lines: 26


	I have the book; it is good reading for FORTH enthusiasts. The
book includes an implementation of simple data structures (like
Pascal's data structures), which is cleanly written.  Next comes a
discussion of object programming.  This section is good, but a little
disappointing.  The programs given allow OO programming, but with some
severe restrictions.  This section has an excellent summary of hidden
vocabularies, however, including code to make and seal your own.  The
last two sections deal with linked lists (and queues, stacks, etc...)
and memory management using a heap.

	Overall, the book is well worth reading.  There are some
annoyances, however.  For one, the author aliases "endif" to "then",
because of strong personal preference.  Another problem is that the
book re-defines the backslash word, which is commonly used for
comments.  The book assumes 16-bit stack items.  The book does have
some nice code, however, which could be very useful in some
situations.

	In general, I liked the book, although I was hoping for more.

-- 
 Clifford A. Adams    ---    "I understand only inasmuch as I become."
 ForthLisp Project Programmer        (Goal: LISP interpreter in Forth)
 caasnsr@nmt.edu            ...cmcl2!lanl!unm-la!unmvax!nmtsun!caasnsr
 (505) 835-6104 | US Mail: Box 2439 Campus Station / Socorro, NM 87801