Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think!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: <741@noe.UUCP>
Date: 27 Dec 89 15:47:37 GMT
References: <798@mindlink.UUCP> <735@noe.UUCP> <7355@ficc.uu.net> <737@noe.UUCP> <7416@ficc.uu.net>
Sender: usenet@noe.UUCP
Reply-To: marc@noe.UUCP (Marc de Groot)
Organization: Noe Systems, San Francisco
Lines: 36

In article <7416@ficc.uu.net> peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
>In article <737@noe.UUCP> marc@noe.UUCP (Marc de Groot) writes:
>> Sorry to burst YOUR bubble, Peter, but I LIVED in Berkeley in 1979 (and
>> through 1987)
>
>Well, I lived there 1978 through 1981. I'll see you and raise you 400
>quatloos. You obviously hung around with the wrong set of hackers.

OK, no need to turn this group into another flame haven.  I'll see you. :-)

>Forth didn't catch on for one simple reason... it's whole design is based
>on the assumption of rigidly limited memory. We're not in that world any
>more, except for us embedded control weenies.

I have to take issue with this.  Forth's whole design (IMHO) is based
on threaded code, and nothing more.  It seems to me that you can strip
every word out of the dictionary and start over, as long as you keep NEXT.

Forth is not a reserved word set and it is not a functional specification.
It is an *approach* to programming.  Again, IMHO.

Now if you want to talk about fig-Forth or other existing implementations,
I could list a bunch of reasons besides the one you gave why Forth didn't
catch on.

>"It was just dumb luck that Unix managed to break through the Stupidity Barrier
>and become popular in spite of its inherent elegance." -- gavin@krypton.sgi.com

Which elegance are you talking about?  The elegance which requires > 1 Meg of
RAM to run with any performance?  Or the elegance which eats 30% of the CPU
cycles?  ;-)
-- 
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