Group: comp.lang.forth · Group Profile
Author: Jonah ThomasJonah Thomas Date: Jul 21, 2008 04:50
DavidM nowhere.com> wrote:>
> Does anyone actually use OO in forth these days?
Yes. They use a variety of OO systems in Forth.
> I'm at a fork in the road with the multiplatform C-based Forth I'm
> developing. I've built an OO framework - dynamic prototype-based - as
> an optional add-on, which can be easily compiled in or out, or
> dynamically loaded at run time.
>
> The dilemma is whether to build a big fat 'Forth Foundation Classes'
> layer using it, or whether to implement all the extras with a
> classical Forth feel, but adding an OO shim on top.
Who are your intended users? Which approach would be easier for you? If
you build a big fat FFC layer, do you have to document it all? Would
your users tend to get lost in that documentation? On the other hand,
would your prospective users demand such a thing?
Since your prospective users will probably prefer to change their habits
as little as possible, you should notice what they're doing already.
> Do you feel OO has a place in forth, or do you feel it's a wasteful
> hack which artificially pushes the ideas of other programming
> paradigms into Forth, and that anything done with OO would be better
> done with traditional Forth and smarter factoring?
Traditional Forth works well for a lot of things, but only for people
who know how to write withe traditional Forth. If you want your system
to be used by people who don't want to learn that, better give them
tools they can understand.
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