Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!willett!ForthNet
From: ForthNet@willett.UUCP (ForthNet articles from GEnie)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Advanced Beginners
Message-ID: <498.UUL1.3#5129@willett.UUCP>
Date: 18 Feb 90 23:41:53 GMT
Organization: Latest link in the ForthNet chain.  (Pgh, PA)
Lines: 34

Category 2,  Topic 8
Message 33        Sun Feb 18, 1990
L.ZETTEL                     at 17:31 EST
 
  To David Albert (GEnie msg 32).
       Baldly put, the advice of many Forthers on the subject of implementing
  compiled libraries would be: don't bother.  Allow me to explain.
       A good Forth compiler is as fast or faster than the linker in many
  conventional langauages.  Good Forth code is inherently modular.  If you
  can rapidly create the final product direct from source, why
  bother with compiled libraries?  If you deal with blocks (as I prefer)
  or many short files (as Mitch Bradley prefers), then using load screens
  or some equivalent lets you mix, match, and select to your heart's
  content.
       There are also some collateral advantages.  Always going from source
  solves one aspect of the "version problem": there is no doubt that the
  stuff executing matches the source.  You are also spared the temptation
  to fatten up the modules by throwing in something that you don't need
  now but might be handy some day - when some day arrives (usually much
  less often than thought) the additional stuff can be added.
       My personal preferred Forth programming style is to start with the
  minimum kernal and compile everything else up to the spot I am working
  on when I take up the problem again.  After that, at the first hint that
  something has been corrupted (because I maybe miscalculated an address,
  for instance) I trash the executable and rebuild it.  Debugging is much
  more effective because I always know where I'm at.
       This style also encourages review and revision of the lower level
  stuff as you gain more insight into what the application should really
  look like, so the final product tends to be really tight and well
  integrated.  Try it for a while!
                                -LenZ-
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