Re: An Observation

John Doty <jpd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Certainly it's the kind of programming a narrow specialist is
comfortable with. LSE isn't intended for narrow specialists.

We are communicating right via a network of computers running software
that solve problems virtually identical to the SIP one I described.
Thus I assume all those problems are "the kind of programming a narrow
specialist is comfortable with". If so then "narrow specialist" seems
a rather odd label but if you need a label to define away problems
that LSE64 can't handle then so be it. At least it clears up what
LSE64 is not any good at.


Go read some of the stuff Ritchie wrote on the history of Unix. Those
guys understood explicitly that they were engaged in a *social*
activity.

Unix is not C. If you have a *specific* paper/book about C in mind
then reference it.


Probably where it is now, mainly in the niche of systems with limited
amounts of memory.

It's only in a very small part of that niche.

So what? You want to quibble about the size of the niche?


It's mostly gone from *all* environments.

So what? Why does it have to exist in all environments? APL is
mostly gone from all environements, but if you want to analyze
stockmarket data it is hard to find anything better than K (an APL
derivative). Use the right tool for the job.


nobody cries that Unix is extinct because it isn't the
#1 solution for document processing.

Unix remains *very* strong in the area of technical document
processing.

Unix was used by Bell labs secretaries to prepare documents. How many
secretaries in 2007 use any flavour of Unix to prepare documents let
alone use troff, eqn and pic? MacOS (10) is about as close as you'll
get but it is more than likely running Microsoft Word, the secretary
never sees the command line and might as well be running MacOS 9 or
Microsoft Windows for all the difference it makes to how they prepare
a document using Word. You can still find people using Unix to
prepare documents (I do, using LaTeX), but it is a niche compared to
vast majority who use Word.


Where you sit isn't where others
who are making a living using Forth sit.

Yes. There are a few small oases surrounded by a gigantic desert.

Again, so what? Forth isn't suddently going to make large inroads
into the gigantic desert, it isn't a local optimum for most of the
desert.
.

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