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From: rfl@oddjob.UUCP (Bob Loewenstein)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Neon
Message-ID: <850@oddjob.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 12-Jul-85 23:49:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: oddjob.850
Posted: Fri Jul 12 23:49:31 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 15:07:42 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: U. Chicago, Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lines: 46

> I found NEON to be, unfortunately, very FORTH-like.  I have developed
> an abhorance for unreadable syntax.  I think my first project will
> be developing infix fixes of a general nature.  But if you want to
> do tricky things with the dictionary, you need extra documentation which
> costs extra.
>
> I had nothing but an evening of crashes while trying to use NEON with
> RAMdisk or Switcher.  Groan and moan...  Seems that it requires the whole
> system to be in one place so you cannot split off NEON from its loadable
> classes.  Somehow, it busted (made unloadable) my copy
> of the software during a crash, but I wasnt even writing anything.
>
> but the display is generally a mess - menus are left inverted, it writes
> in the wrong windows sometimes, prompts are not always given, etc.
>
> And there is no floating point yet.  Dont wouldnt worry if you missed the
> promotional period.
>
> Dan LaLiberte
> liberte@uiucdcs.Uiuc.ARPA
> ihnp4!uiucdcs!liberte

"unreadable syntax" is often found in Forth, in part because of stack
operations that are hard to follow. Neon eliminates the need for dups,swaps,
etc. by the use of named input parameters and local variables. This, in
addition to the use of objects, makes the source code very readable.

Neon does not work with the switcher yet (the switcher was not released when
Neon was wrapped up for production). There are plans to make Neon switcher
compatible. Until then, you can't use it with switcher. Also floating point
is in the works, I am told. Still, you can do alot with fixed point as
any Forth programmer knows.

I have found the object oriented nature of the language blends very well
with the mac environment. Utilizing the system is much easier than with
procedural type languages. Development time for quite sophisticated
programs is minimal in my view.

We are using Neon quite successfully here and I can recommend it as well
worth the money. If you want to use the mac as it was intended with a minimum
of effort (and feel comfortable with Forth), then don't miss the opportunity
to get the language at $155.

----the usual disclaimer fits here.....

Oh yes...to write in the correct window, use the Set: method for class Window.