[Noisebridge-discuss] Forth programming?

Mitch Altman maltman23 at hotmail.com
Tue Jan 13 00:09:37 UTC 2009


High level isn't better or worse than low level.  I'm one of those weirdos that actually prefers assembly language to high level languages (though I am passable at C and C++, and would like to learn Python and Ruby).
 
I don't know if I'd actually call Forth higher level than C.  It is easier than C in many ways, since there's no compiler, and the statements are simpler.  But it is pretty close to the machine in many ways.  Forth is also considered by many to be a "write only" language -- meaning that once written, no one can read it, including the person who wrote the program, after a week or two goes by.  This is only partly a joke.  But it is a really cool, powerful language that is worth learning, IMO.  For those into programming, learning any new language is useful to build your skills.  Others may disagree with me, but IMO, from a purely practical standpoint, if one were to choose only one or two high level languages to learn, Forth would probably not be on the top of the list to choose from -- but it's a fun and unique language to add to your list if you already know programming.
 
Mitch.
 
------------------> Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] Forth programming?> From: jim at well.com> To: nate at root.org> Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:35:24 -0800> CC: noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net> > > thank you. i have more to learn. what's good > about "high level:" built-in algorithms? more > work done with fewer lines of source code? > streamlined path for thinking? > and does forth as a shell reduce the need for > tools (editors, compilers, debuggers, linkers, > libraries, IDEs...)? i.e. can a coder get real > fast by accepting the limitations (few tools), > kind of like using the vi editor (aka vim)? > > > > On Mon, 2009-01-12 at 15:23 -0800, Nate Lawson wrote:> > jim wrote:> > > what's the advantage forth has over C or > > > assembler? is it sufficiently compelling to > > > justify the learning curve? > > > curious, not challenging. > > > > > > > Higher-level than both assembly and C and simpler. Wikipedia says:> > > > ###> > Forth is a structured, imperative, stack-based, computer programming> > language and programming environment.> > > > A procedural, stack-oriented and reflective programming language without> > type checking, Forth features both interactive execution of commands> > (making it suitable as a shell for systems that lack a more formal> > operating system) and the ability to compile sequences of commands for> > later execution. Some Forth implementations (usually early versions or> > those written to be extremely portable) compile threaded code, but many> > implementations today generate optimized machine code like other> > language compilers.> > ###> > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_(programming_language)> > > > _______________________________________________> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
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