wmb@MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM (12/12/90)
> "I'd rather be programming in > STOIC but Forth is more established" is an honest reply -- but > equally irrelevant. I don't think it's irrelevant at all. Market acceptance and the existence of a non-trivial user community is a very important "decision criteria" of a language. I don't want to program in a vacuum. I have a tremendous amount of experience trying to "sell" Forth to other people. I have "sold" it to the world's leading workstation vendor, an entrenched "C" shop. As a result, there are 100,000 more Forth interpreters than there were a year ago. > after hearing your response, I will go speak to the unconvinced with your > words in my mouth. I will try to convince them of the value of Forth > by citing the features that you have told me are responsible for > making Forth what it is. I found that talking about features was pretty much a waste of time. You pretty much have to prove your point by showing people what you and they can do with Forth. In my experience, the number of people who are swayed by technical arguments is negligeable. In the final analysis, it often boils down to: Can I hire someone to solve the problem for me, in a language for which I can later hire someone to support it? How much will the total project cost? That's where the market acceptance comes in. Mitch Bradley, wmb@Eng.Sun.COM