Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site umcp-cs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!umcp-cs!mangoe From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) Newsgroups: net.jokes,net.lang.forth Subject: Re: Forth from the Stone Age? Message-ID: <1807@umcp-cs.UUCP> Date: Thu, 13-Dec-84 03:28:25 EST Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.1807 Posted: Thu Dec 13 03:28:25 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 14-Dec-84 05:56:11 EST References: <45@mot.UUCP> <6810@watdaisy.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD Lines: 27 Xref: watmath net.jokes:9903 net.lang.forth:186 Norman Diamond writes: >You forgot those of us who can't stand forth, and those of us who >wonder why a new 50's language is invented in the 70's and still >promoted in the 80's. How do I anti-honk? Well, well. Just this past week a seminar group here was discussing some language features and philosophy, and my, my, Forth was brought up as an embodiment of principles some felt were desirable. Features, I might add, that are found in very few languages (such as COMPLETE control over data types). As the story has been told to me, I have no trouble understanding why Moore created the language. For an 8-bit micro, there simply were no civilized languages with sufficient power (unless you think 8080 assembly is civilized :-)); there are hardly any now. I'll certainly agree that it is one of the most write-only languages since APL. Nevertheless, it embodies principles which the ADA-ites and their Design-the-Next-Great-Language kin have chosen to ignore. I suspect that the I/O package for most FORTRANs (dare I mention PL/I?) is considerably larger than the Forth COMPILER would be on the same machine. "Forth-- Stay to here is that language a" [Now pop that off your stack] Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe