Re: [Fwd: Anyone programming Windows apps in Forth?]

At 05:13 PM 1/10/2002 -0800, Bob Dickow wrote:

>Concerning Forth + Windows application programming, I recently finished a
>full-fledged Windows interface to a web page management system.

Thanks for reporting this. It seems that there really are successful
Windows applications being written in Forth. Most encouraging.

>I found the SwiftForth environment perfectly easy to program in, much nicer
>than C. However, I did have to do a lot of the interface design from a
>pretty low level. Compared to that, try Borland JBuilder and see that it
>only takes a few minutes to create a windowed interface and have it generate
>all the Java code for you. Such utilities also exist in the C world, and
>such programs are probably big selling points for a development environment.
>Interface programming is onerous at best. I can program the core algorithms
>for a program in a day or two, but spend months on the interface. Ugh!!!
>This is a problem with all modern graphical interfaces. The Windows API came
>pretty easily to me, having had experience programming for the Amiga
>Intuition API, which is somewhat analogous in design.

It came hard to me. I unfortunately resisted it for years and stayed with
MSDOS much longer than I should have. But the two points you make here are
exactly the ones I've been chewing on:

1. Forth is definitely a nicer place to live as a programmer.
2. Windows programming tools in Forth should be made a LOT less complex -
and since it's been done for other languages, there is no reason it can't
be done for Forth.

I've often compared the difference between Forth and C++ as the difference
between driving a sports car and a truck. Forth with Windows feels like
driving a sports car towing a boat. I'd surely love to loose that boat.

John

Algorithmic Arts
http://algoart.com

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Received on Fri Jan 11 2002 - 02:29:07 PST