wmb@MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM (03/15/91)
> I don't know if I agree that syntax is a waste of time > or is harmful. That's getting on the edge of Forth as a > religion Let me state this more precisely: I have personally wasted a lot of time dealing with syntax problems, and now that I tend to design things in the Forth "syntax free" style, I no longer waste that time. (Ultimately, religion boils down to personal testimonies, too, I guess.) > After all, you don't have to like the syntax of > a language like Pascal or 'C' in order to appreciate how to > write a compiler for it. And when you understand that, you > aren't far from understanding how to processing natural > languages. Dealing with the syntax of natural languages is well-understood and relatively easy. Dealing with the ambiguity of natural languages is very very hard. Mitch Bradley, wmb@Eng.Sun.COM