wmb@MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM (01/18/91)
> Would you marry someone designed by the ANSI team?
Quite an intriguing question, that! I originally thought: Heck no!
But as I thought about it some more, I began to see it in a different
light. We are all bundles of contradictions and strengths and weaknesses
and neuroses and joys. A lot of different people have left their imprint
on my personality over the years. I knew my wife wasn't all I could ever
ask for, but I didn't think it likely that I was going to find anyone
better for me (especially given that I'm not Mr. Perfect either). Call me
a pragmatist; call me unromantic; call me a sellout; call me what you will,
but it works for me.
If I had a blank sheet of paper and could dictate ANS Forth, there are
a LOT of things that I would do differently. But I don't and I can't,
so I'm trying to work within the system toward the best ANS Forth that
can be achieved under the constraints. The current state of the document
is, in my opinion, pretty darn good under the circumstances. Beyond a few
minor revisions and tweaks here and there, I don't see many realistic
opportunities for major improvements. The current document, if widely
implemented, will be a major improvement over the current "Tower of Babel"
situation.
Mitch Bradley, wmb@Eng.Sun.COMwmb@MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM (01/23/91)
> (Someone should make a test implementation -- they were doing that > for a while -- and let the Forth Community see what would be involved > if she were to become a companion for life.) Even as we speak, Martin Tracy is updating Zen to comply with Basis 14. I spent several hours on the phone with him this weekend going over various implementation details to make sure that the implementation agrees with the intention of Basis. In the process, Martin has made a list of areas where Basis 14 is not clear, so that Basis 15 can tighten up the language. This wife analogy is being taken too far. I originally brought it up to illustrate the point that, in any decision, a person weighs advantages and disadvantages according to a set of personal weighting factors; there is no such thing as the "absolute essence of Forth for every person", any more than there is a single woman who would make an ideal wife for every man. Fortunately, I got to choose my wife without regard to what a lot of other people thought, and I am not expected to share her with thousands of people. In the privacy of your own home, you can use any Forth system you want, or make your own personal Forth system according to your whim. Different rules apply for the creation of a public standard. Mitch Bradley, wmb@Eng.Sun.COM