Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1

Date	2015-06-22 19:42 -1000
From	"Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com>
Organization	FORTH, Inc.
Newsgroups	comp.lang.forth
Subject	Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1
References	(2 earlier) <3c5027ca-beab-489c-8887-0b49961d29c8@googlegroups.com> <-uKdnSpMkacTzOrInZ2dnUU7-V2dnZ2d@supernews.com> <mm5o8e$4vv$1@speranza.aioe.org> <GNOdnTFd7cZQ9hvInZ2dnUU7-d2dnZ2d@supernews.com> <mmapf8$350$1@speranza.aioe.org>
Message-ID	<MMKdnZ7FBOtDbBXInZ2dnUU7-QWdnZ2d@supernews.com> (permalink)

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On 6/22/15 7:05 PM, HAA wrote:
> Elizabeth D. Rather wrote:
>> On 6/20/15 9:14 PM, HAA wrote:
>>> ...
>>> Supporting obsolete or little-used technology can end up doing more harm than
>>> good.  Forth-94 took a 'norm' like 2's complement and turned it into something
>>> that's 'not portable'.  The result has been users avoid 2's complement code at
>>> the expense of efficiency.
>>
>> Smart ones just declare a dependency on 2's complement and forge ahead.
>> Virtually every actual program has far more serious dependencies: on a
>> processor, host OS, other hardware, etc.
>
> If portability is a myth, why declare anything?  Do you declare Forth-94
> dependencies such as 2's complement in your programs?  If not, why not.

Portability isn't a myth, it's a continuum. A program can be more 
portable, or less. To a great extent, it's up to the programmer to make 
decisions in each case, depending on many factors: what things need to 
be optimized even at a cost in portability; how likely it is that you 
will want to run this program on different Forth systems or host 
platforms, etc. In any case, it's a way to documenting specifically what 
things you need to be conscious of when moving to a different platform, 
and that's of considerable value.

And, yes, I would certainly list 2's complement, along with the host 
CPU, OS if any, hardware dependencies, cell size, and probably a whole 
list of other things.

Cheers,
Elizabeth

-- 
==================================================
Elizabeth D. Rather   (US & Canada)   800-55-FORTH
FORTH Inc.                         +1 310.999.6784
5959 West Century Blvd. Suite 700
Los Angeles, CA 90045
http://www.forth.com

"Forth-based products and Services for real-time
applications since 1973."
==================================================

Thread

RfD: 1 chars = 1 anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2015-06-08 17:34 +0000
  Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2015-06-08 10:59 -0700
    Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 "Alex McDonald" <blog@rivadpm.com> - 2015-06-08 19:57 +0100
      Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Michael Barry <barrym95838@yahoo.com> - 2015-06-08 16:35 -0700
        Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2015-06-09 06:18 +0000
      Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2015-06-09 23:35 +0200
        Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 "Alex McDonald" <blog@rivadpm.com> - 2015-06-09 23:49 +0100
          Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2015-06-10 01:41 +0200
            Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 "Alex McDonald" <blog@rivadpm.com> - 2015-06-10 02:03 +0100
              Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2015-06-10 12:22 +0000
                Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 "Alex McDonald" <blog@rivadpm.com> - 2015-06-11 14:50 +0100
              Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2015-06-10 14:46 +0200
    Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2015-06-09 07:09 +0000
      Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Stefan Mauerhofer <smauerhofer@androsoft.ch> - 2015-06-09 01:52 -0700
      Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2015-06-09 23:29 +0200
      Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 David Thompson <dave.thompson2@verizon.net> - 2015-06-21 12:46 -0400
  Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Matthias Koch <matthias.koch@hot.uni-hannover.de> - 2015-06-09 12:06 +0200
    Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Mark Wills <markwills1970@gmail.com> - 2015-06-09 03:40 -0700
      Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Matthias Koch <matthias.koch@hot.uni-hannover.de> - 2015-06-09 12:45 +0200
        Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> - 2015-06-09 07:17 -0400
          Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 Matthias Koch <matthias.koch@hot.uni-hannover.de> - 2015-06-09 14:30 +0200
      Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2015-06-09 12:50 -0800
        Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 "HAA" <someone@microsoft.com> - 2015-06-21 17:14 +1000
          Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2015-06-20 21:46 -1000
            Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 "HAA" <someone@microsoft.com> - 2015-06-23 15:05 +1000
              Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2015-06-22 19:42 -1000
                Re: RfD: 1 chars = 1 "HAA" <someone@microsoft.com> - 2015-06-27 14:08 +1000

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