The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code)

From	anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl)
Newsgroups	comp.lang.forth
Subject	The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code)
Date	2014-10-20 09:10 +0000
Organization	Institut fuer Computersprachen, Technische Universitaet Wien
Message-ID	<2014Oct20.111046@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at> (permalink)
References	(1 earlier) <6a35de1e-64e4-426c-b9d9-e3c70ab2eeee@googlegroups.com> <544139de$0$2964$e4fe514c@news2.news.xs4all.nl> <54414f47$0$2922$e4fe514c@news2.news.xs4all.nl> <2014Oct18.174324@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at> <RfOdnf5NnKLRVt7JnZ2dnUU7-f2dnZ2d@supernews.com>

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Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> writes:
>Anton Ertl <anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at> wrote:
>> 
>> Related to an adjacent discussion: I think that this serves nicely as
>> a demonstration that lack of locals does not automatically lead to
>> well-factored code
>
>I must have missed that claim.

I am not surprised.

BTW, my comment was not a criticism of Hans Bezemer's code, but on the
claim outlined above.  I have not looked closely enough at the problem
or the code to make any well-founded critique of the code.  That's why
I put special emphasis on the following formalistic criterion for
"well-factored"):

>> (especially if you use 'the magical "seven, plus or minus two"
>> words' *maximum* as the definition of "well-factored").
>
>Which no-one does, AFAIK.

You did:

|>>But, IMO, any word which is much longer than than the magical "seven,
|>>plus or minus two" words may well be in need of some attention.
|> 
|> You would unfactor a three-word definition?
|
|No: the "seven, plus or minus two" is a *maximium*.

<GNKdnUPWhZo1RN3JnZ2dnUU7-eOdnZ2d@supernews.com> 

>I'm surprised you didn't know the reference
>from Thinking Forth

What makes you think I didn't know it?  I just don't find the
connection drawn to Miller's result at all convincing.  The only
interesting part in Thinking Forth about this is:

|An informal examination of one of Moore's applications shows that he
|averages seven references, including both words and numbers, per
|definition.

If he considered 7 a maximum, he apparently also considered it a
minimum (or he would not arrive at an average of 7).  A histogram
would be more interesting, and I am sure that he did not limit himself
to 7 or 9 references maximum.  I wonder whether :, <name> and ; are
included in the count of references.

- anton
-- 
M. Anton Ertl  http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/home.html
comp.lang.forth FAQs: http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/forth/faq/toc.html
     New standard: http://www.forth200x.org/forth200x.html
   EuroForth 2014: http://www.euroforth.org/ef14/

Thread

Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-13 18:15 +0200
  Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-13 18:18 +0200
    Re: Tiny regular expressions code Pablo Hugo Reda <pabloreda@gmail.com> - 2014-10-13 09:32 -0700
    Re: Tiny regular expressions code Howerd <howerdo@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-10-13 11:18 -0700
      Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-13 20:36 +0200
        Re: Tiny regular expressions code Howerd <howerdo@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-10-13 11:53 -0700
  Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-13 22:14 +0200
  Re: Tiny regular expressions code mhx@iae.nl (Marcel Hendrix) - 2014-10-13 22:59 +0200
    Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-13 23:11 +0200
  Re: Tiny regular expressions code albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-10-14 09:22 +0000
    Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-14 17:43 +0200
      Re: Tiny regular expressions code albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-10-14 16:27 +0000
        Re: Tiny regular expressions code albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-10-15 09:48 +0000
          Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-15 17:38 +0200
            Re: Tiny regular expressions code albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-10-16 09:20 +0000
  Re: Tiny regular expressions code josv@planet.nl - 2014-10-17 05:03 -0700
    Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-17 17:48 +0200
      Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-17 19:20 +0200
        Re: Tiny regular expressions code anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-18 15:43 +0000
          Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-18 18:53 +0200
          Re: Tiny regular expressions code hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-18 19:19 -0700
            Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-19 14:52 +0200
              Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-19 15:25 +0200
                Re: Tiny regular expressions code Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-10-19 21:14 +0200
                Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-20 00:17 +0200
              Re: Tiny regular expressions code albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-10-19 17:10 +0000
                Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-19 19:59 +0200
          Re: Tiny regular expressions code Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-19 09:31 -0500
            The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-20 09:10 +0000
              Re: The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) m.a.m.hendrix@tue.nl - 2014-10-20 03:13 -0700
                Re: The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) mhx@iae.nl (Marcel Hendrix) - 2014-10-20 20:19 +0200
                Re: The magical number seven Lars Brinkhoff <lars.spam@nocrew.org> - 2014-10-21 08:56 +0200
                Re: The magical number seven Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-10-21 11:44 +0200
                Re: The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) Just Ian <superian@gmail.com> - 2014-10-21 07:06 -0700
                Re: The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) mhx@iae.nl (Marcel Hendrix) - 2014-10-21 20:11 +0200
                Re: The magical number seven Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-26 04:27 -0500
              Re: The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-20 17:28 +0200
                Re: The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-10-20 16:25 +0000
                Re: The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) "Rod Pemberton" <buzzoff@nonamewhichexists.cmm> - 2014-10-20 16:36 -0400
                Re: The magical number seven "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2014-10-20 12:19 -1000
                Re: The magical number seven "Rod Pemberton" <buzzoff@nonamewhichexists.cmm> - 2014-10-21 01:47 -0400
                Re: The magical number seven "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2014-10-20 20:31 -1000
                Re: The magical number seven albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2014-10-21 09:06 +0000
                Re: The magical number seven "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2014-10-21 08:47 -1000
                Re: The magical number seven "Rod Pemberton" <buzzoff@nonamewhichexists.cmm> - 2014-10-22 02:21 -0400
                Re: The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-21 10:29 +0200
                Re: The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2014-10-21 11:34 +0200
                Re: The magical number seven Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-26 04:41 -0500
                Re: The magical number seven Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-26 12:07 +0100
                Re: The magical number seven Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-26 13:58 -0500
                Re: The magical number seven (was: Tiny regular expressions code) hughaguilar96@yahoo.com - 2014-10-20 16:34 -0700
                Re: The magical number seven Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-26 04:33 -0500
                Re: The magical number seven Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-26 12:12 +0100
              Re: The magical number seven Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2014-10-26 04:24 -0500
          Re: Tiny regular expressions code mhx@iae.nl (Marcel Hendrix) - 2014-10-19 17:10 +0200
      Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-18 16:02 +0200
        Re: Tiny regular expressions code josv@planet.nl - 2014-10-18 07:50 -0700
  Re: Tiny regular expressions code Hans Bezemer <the.beez.speaks@gmail.com> - 2014-10-18 17:27 +0200
  Re: Tiny regular expressions code the_gavino_himself <visphatesjava@gmail.com> - 2014-11-08 19:24 -0800
  Re: Tiny regular expressions code the_gavino_himself <visphatesjava@gmail.com> - 2014-11-08 20:42 -0800

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