Re: GS Forth II

[johnlb@Primenet.Com (John Bowling)]

In article <gm16453@pro-palmtree.cts.com>,
Richard Der <rder@pro-palmtree.cts.com> wrote:
> 
>Is anyone familiar with this software? The readme file describes it
>as a Logo-like programming language. Released as freeware in 1991,
>it claims to support toolbox programming up to System 5.0.3.
> 
>Is this language any good for beginners? Is it any good at all?

I haven't used Forth much lately, but I did a lot of it a few years back.
Forth is a very good language for beginners (and I know some of you C and
Pascal diehards will disagree with that).  It is easy to learn, with the
interactive nature that BASIC has.  It has one feature that some people
don't like in that it uses a so called 'reverse Polish' notation.  And
some people think that method is easier to work with (no misinterpretation
of the order of precidence of operators and the ensuing multiple levels of
parens).  It does everything in exactly the order it's entered.

It has one feature that no other language I've seen has ever duplicated;
you can created a function in the shell, testing as you do so, then do any
of the following:
  Use it for a while and then delete it.
  Append it to the kernel for future use.
  Add it to a source file which you can then use, possibly modified, with
    any future programs.

Forth's best feature is that you don't have to wait for a compile and
link to check it out, you just type it in and test it in no more time then
it takes you to type it.

And Forth is *not* like logo.  Logo is basically a child's toy compared to
Forth being a robust, mature, adult tool.

There is one more feature of Forth which I almost forgot.  As the
complexity of a program written in Forth goes up in magnitude, it's size
per feature drops in almost the same magnitude.  Other languages seem to
increase a program's size faster than the increase in features.

I think that a Java interpreter could be written in Forth better than most
other languages.

John

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