Re: [Flashforth-devel] For-next loops - the New Design

[craig b. <dab...@ya...>]

As the self-designated dinosaur of this group, I'm afraid I see this whole discussion as a lot of gas in the wind...  This is not a problem with the language, the language is functioning normally as it has since I started playing with it on my Apple ][ early in the eighties.  The problem is with the programmer's imagination.  If a ForNext loop is counting up and won't give you a Zero to start off with, you do the operation once then start the loop.  If it's counting down and won't do a Zero Pass at the end, you do the operation once after the loop finishes.  I leave enumeration of the rest of the possabilities as an exercise for the student.

There's no future in rewriting a classic language to suit niggling small annoyances,  remember what happened with C+?  Object oriented junk is destroying the programmers' minds...hack...cough...pitui...harumph!...Sorry about that, I had promised not to rant.  But if Forth isn't a high-level language by modern definitions, then ANSI C, BASIC, and PASCAL aren't either.  Granted, FORTRAN was only ever an intermediate-level language, but we all had to start somewhere.

Point is, Mike's handed us a great little tool here that's amazingly true to the spirit and execution of its historical roots.  Why screw it up?  If a non-standard loop structure is desirable for your application, another loadable textfile in the toolbox collection is always welcome, I say.

Carry on and don't mind me (grin).
craig