Re: What languages do you regularly use besides forth?

Hi John,

John Doty wrote:

The think it's pretty clear that the incompetence of most Americans at
foreign languages is a component of the ignorance that has yielded some
serious foreign relations folly in recent years.
Failure to understand other people's point of view is the cause of many
problems.

That's the past. Forth's future looks bleak. It is practically extinct
in astronomy, its first major application area. At this year's huge SPIE
symposium "Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation" I saw *nothing*
on software in Forth. Python, TCL, Java, C, and even Visual Basic were
well represented.
From my perspective, Forth's future is looking good.I have three
projects lined up, all in Forth. This is a welcome change from three of
the last four projects which were all in C/C++/ flavour of the month
languages.
I'm not going to lose any sleep over why many people blindly follow the
latest fashion.

How are you going to understand *why* people go to Python if you don't
understand it on its own terms? You plainly don't understand why C
became popular,
C became popular because it provided a framework that people could use
to make money. Likewise Windows, and the plethora of modern programming
tools and languages.
Python is popular because it provides a scripting environment which
compensates to some extent for the limited functionality of C and
friends.
Perl used to popular for the same reason, but is too slow and
unreadable compared to Python.
< rant++>
I have been forced by practical neccessity to become familiar with many
of the modern programming languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, Perl,
TCL, VB. I have used Windows, Linux, Unix, SMX, Nucleus OS's. I have
pointed and clicked ( repeatedly ) at various IDE's where the simplest
operation becomes a brain-numbing ritual. I have been encouraged to
program using UML/Rhapsody, Yourdon/Mellor and even OO.
If that's what it takes to provide for my family, so be it.
All of these products make money - that's what they are for. And that's
what I use them for too.
But, please, if you are interested in simplicity, elegance, getting the
job done or having fun, don't bother with any of that stuff.
<rant-->
I discovered Forth by accident back in 1978, and I have used it ever
since to communicate with a computer. I "play" with Forth for fun. I
enjoy taking a complex system such as the PCI bus, FAT file systems,
PPP/IP etc, creating a toolset that allows me to disect, view and
re-assemble them so that I really understand them.
BTW NTFS and USB are next on my list..
I also write programs using Forth.
Forth is alive and kicking in this corner of England!

or why ANS Forth seems so kludgy to those of us who have
seen a better approach.
ANS gives Forth commercial respectability. This allows it to be used in
places where otherwise it would not be allowed in the door. This is a
good thing. And, as has been pointed out in this newsgroup on many
occasions, you don't have to write ANS Forth programs using an ANS
Forth compiler, but it is polite to mention if what you write is not
ANS, to avoid any possible confusion.

I assume you are refering indirectly here to the "compile everything"
system, rather than the conventional "compile/interpret" system. Of
course colorForth has no TIB or INTERPRET , and everything gets
pre-parsed, if not quite pre-compiled.
So there's room for different designs...

I presume you knew that a "Forth is dying" post would provoke some
reaction?
Well , that was my 2p's worth ;)

Regards

Howerd 8^)

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Programming Technology
    ... most popular in the world. ... something that very few other languages have. ... GUI, gaming, network, and systems programming. ... Java is probably the most popular applications language, ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Future language support for concurrency
    ... it did not become very popular perhaps because ... Just as in spoken languages, ... programming notation determines the thinking in programming as well. ... mention the conditional critical region or the monitor. ...
    (comp.programming.threads)
  • Re: GoTo in Java
    ... > The popular languages are not so because of their syntax, ... programming, is quite primitive by comparison with, say, the Java ... For that matter, there are languages with rich libraries, high-level ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: merits of Lisp vs Python
    ... y) more popular. ... I think that people who know more languages and more about programming will ... Was that "wrestling oiled pigs" thread also started by gavino? ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: compiler for Chinese development language
    ... This relates to the development of vernacular ... Indian vernacular display, OS and programming languages. ... Bangla and other vernaculars. ...
    (comp.compilers)
Loading