Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!ames!pacbell!noe!marc From: marc@noe.UUCP (Marc de Groot) Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth Subject: Re: Forth Programs (was Forth learning curve) Message-ID: <735@noe.UUCP> Date: 18 Dec 89 00:29:29 GMT References: <798@mindlink.UUCP> Sender: usenet@noe.UUCP Reply-To: marc@noe.UUCP (Marc de Groot) Organization: Noe Systems, San Francisco Lines: 45 In article <798@mindlink.UUCP> a342@mindlink.UUCP (John McKechnie) writes: >I'm aware of a 123 "look alike" written in Forth - VP Planner! >At least the info I have says it was written in Forth. And I'm aware of two: Finnigan Instruments of San Jose is the world's leading supplier of mass spectrometer equipment. They have a data acquisition system which is written entirely in Forth. The source code measures 16 megabytes! That's 16,000 16 x 64 screens. They not only have been very successful with this product, they have included they ability for their customers to extend the system in the field (in Forth). To my amazement, customer acceptance has been very good. Another: The program Swivel 3D, marketed by Paracomp for the Macintosh, is a whizzy 3D modeling and rendering program. It is written in CSI's MacForth. The source is 4 - 3" ring binders full of paper. --- There are two reasons (IMHO) why C became more accepted than Forth: 1) The universities took advantage of AT&T's offer for Unix licenses at bargain prices. The hackers at the universities learned what was avail- able to them. 2) MS-DOS was designed with two sets of system calls: one set that looked like CP/M, allowing upward compatibility, and another that looked like Unix, allowing C programs that used the Unix library calls to be compatible. --- If Forth had been handed to a bunch of hyperactive hackers at UC Berkeley in 1978 or thereabouts, we would likely see a robust operating system based on Forth. In fact, it would likely have TCP/IP features to allow it to talk to the Internet, and good stuff to support multi-user operation. -- Marc de Groot (KG6KF) |"...few people know what to do with a computer. Noe Systems, San Francisco | They decide that running an operating system UUCP: uunet!hoptoad!noe!marc | is a substitute for doing productive work." Internet: marc@kg6kf.AMPR.ORG | -Chuck Moore