
Factor vs. Forth (from a Forth programmer) - fogus
http://www.rosycrew.org/FactorVsForth.pdf
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plinkplonk
Am I the only one who finds the use of the phrase "real world" for the world
of microcontroller programming jarring? It is used throughout the article.

e.g:- "rationals are never used in the real world, and floating-point is quite
rare"

To the author's credit he does define the use of this term "On the other hand,
all of these languages are too big to be used in the real world (micro-
controllers), which is the realm where Forth and C remain popular."

but I still found it a bit jarring.

"It is reasonable to predict that Factor will largely phase out Forth in the
world of desktop programming, but that Forth and C will continue to be
predominant in the real world."

I understand that English is probably not the author's first language, (it
isn't mine either), but if he is reading this, replacing "real world" with
"microcontroller world" might be an easy change to make.

~~~
gloob
Have you considered the possibility that perhaps when the author says "the
real world", he might mean "the real world"? I would not be surprised to learn
that his point of view is that embedded systems make the world go round, and
web programming is a kiddy pool for quiche-eaters. Most programmers are
elitists about something or other; that "something" might as well be
microcontrollers.

~~~
plinkplonk
"Most programmers are elitists about something or other; that "something"
might as well be microcontrollers."

It is certainly _possible_.

I guess it is just that I think the hypothesis that "English is not his first
language" is more probable than "He is an elitist who thinks only
microcontroller program is real programming" as an explanation for this usage.
I could be wrong.

EDIT: invalidated by thristian's post above

------
wglb
Interesting view of "the real world", where Python, C++, Factor, etc, are not
used. This real world is contrasted with the desktop.

This is a pretty detailed comparison of Factor and Forth, insofar as I can
tell (neither a Forth or Factor programmer). There is a little confusion about
compiled vs interpreted--author of the paper claims that C is interpreted
based on its use of the "%1" used in printf statements.

