Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!cbnewsd!bird From: bird@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (j.l.walters) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: What languages do you want. Message-ID: <1153@cbnewsd.ATT.COM> Date: 15 Aug 89 01:26:48 GMT References: <8908111748.AA01529@trout.nosc.mil> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 34 From article <8908111748.AA01529@trout.nosc.mil>, by lexter@pro-abilink.cts.com (Sam Robertson): > Network Comment: to #6251 by obsolete!att!cbnewsd!bird%ucbvax.berkeley.edu > > Is there an Apple Market for such a language. Yes, however, not in the same sense as C, Fortran, Cobol, etc. > I just wonder what applications can be best written in Forth? > Is it better than PASCAL in the sense of teaching beginners? Is > it structured? Is it commonly used in the REAL world? > Any application that can be written in any other language. With Forth, the executition speed will be faster than most of the above and the object size will "always" be much less. Answering the question as to whether this language is better than that language is never fruitful. Forth does tend to teach one to "think small" and not waste resources. It is much like Pascal in that before a Forth word can be incorporated in another, it must already be defined. It reuses code like no other higher level language I've ever seen. As to whether it is structured, if you mean, "does it require indentation and almost always semicolons?" The answer is, "no." If you mean, "does it espouse a methodology where the intent of the design can be imparted to another?" then the answer is, "yes." One example in the real world I know of is the popular IIgs program, "Math Blaster." -- Joe Walters att!ihlpf!bird IHP 1F-240 (312) 713-5356