Re: How to improve the readability of (any) LISP or any highlevel functional language to the level of FORTH ?

[MarkWills <markrobertwills@yahoo.co.uk>]

On Jan 2, 7:14 pm, w_a_x_man <w_a_x_...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Jan 2, 6:59 am, Doug Hoffman <glide...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On 1/1/11 2:04 AM, girosenth wrote:
>
> > > How to improve the readability of (any) LISP or any highlevel
> > > functional language to the level of FORTH ?
>
> > > There are many people who have trivia complaints about parens in lisp,
> > > but I dont.
>
> > > LISP is a prefix notation.
>
> > > sequence of operations would look like this on operands (ops) :
>
> > > (f ops (g ops (h ops (j ops (k ops (l ops ))...))))
>
> > > How do you make it readable ?
> > > How do you home to the center or centers ?
>
> > > (f (g (h (j (k (l ops)))...)))
>
> > > is easy to read or
>
> > > ops l k j h g f
>
> > [snip]
>
> > > Is there a postfix functional language that also gets rid of parens
> > > and is not as primitive as FORTH or POSTSCRIPT ?
>
> > Forth remains only as primitive as you want it to be.
>
> That is equally true of assembly language.
>
> Forth is a low-level language used primarily for programming embedded
> applications such as controlling the flushing of a toilet.
>
> "Forth, the toilet-flusher!"

Er, no.

Forth has been/is used for:

* Controlling radio telescopes
* Performing the data acquisition on radio telescopes
* Cargo bay loading system on space shuttle
* Controlling CNC machines in metal finishing
* Controlling DC rectifiers in metal finishing
* Dosing controllers in metal finishing
* Anodising controllers in metal finishing
* Distributed control system in factories
* Airport management
* Rain gauge data acquisition in environmental applications
* Flow meter monitoring (data acquisition) and reporting in water/
sewage applications
* Subsea data acquisition and control (in progress)
* Real-time telemetry in Formula 1 cars (still ongoing)
* Initialising PC mother boards all over the world
* OLPC laptop

Note that, contrary to your bizarre assertion, I personally know of no
instance where a Forth system has been used to flush a toilet. It
would be a bit over the top, since a 555 timer and a relay would do
the job quite nicely, as we used to do in the 80's with that exact
application, and similarly with industrial washer detergent dosing
systems.

I know you're a troll and I shouldn't 'feed you' but Forth is still
used, and is still a valuable programming language.