ir230@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (john wavrik) (01/26/91)
Mitch Bradley writes, > The claim that ANS Forth is like a house with no bathroom is > overstated. > ANS Forth is indeed missing a few things, but none as crucial as a > bathroom to a house. It's more like a house with central heating, > but missing a fireplace. > The "missing piece" that Dr. Wavrik has mentioned recently is the > inability to create arbitrary custom control structures. Based on > his concern, and also my own personal concern about this issue, I > have promised to bring up this issue at next week's meeting, and to > fight vigorously for its resolution. Actually, this is not the "missing piece" I have in mind. The disappearance of the functionality of BRANCH and ?BRANCH is something quite visible and immediately noticed. David Murray's metaphor of central heating is apt for this -- (something you need in cold climates, but might not need in California). BRANCH and ?BRANCH are part of a complex -- the user's ability to to add new language features to a Forth system. My concern is with the elimination from Forth of this functionality (of which this is the latest example). For me a better metaphor for this is kitchen appliances (stove, oven, refrigerator, etc.) -- indispensable for anyone who cooks his own food -- but not necessary for people who just warm prepared food or eat in restaurants. There are inadequacies in the cooking facilities! I think we are finding out why you don't let a group of restaurant owners design your kitchen! (You would have thought that their expertise would be helpful -- but they're too anxious to get you to dine out!) I had expected to see some changes in how appliances work -- but not an erosion in what could be done in the kitchen. I'm happy that others have noticed and I accept Mitch Bradley's assurance that the problem will be fixed. John J Wavrik jjwavrik@ucsd.edu Dept of Math C-012 Univ of Calif - San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093