Re: Reading the (fine) manual

I have read through it several times now (as well as the SwiftForth
Handbook), and will probably re-read it on a weekly basis until the current
contract is over. I also refer to it nearly every day for something. There
is enough material there that I can't absorb it all on just one pass. Maybe
I'm just slow, but I think that I would have to slog out this full-time for
six months or more before I would be comfortable regarding myself as a
SwiftXpert.

After the 26th of August, I will be a C++ programmer again (I *am* a C++
expert, having taught advanced C++ courses for over 10 years now), so the
SwiftX questions I have now will become moot after that time. I do not
anticipate having enough side-work after August 26th to justify the purchase
of SwiftForth or SwiftX, so any Forth dabbling that I do will be with
freeware or open-source tools such as Win23Forth, and I don't forsee the
opportunity to do any embedded systems work at all. In fact, I am planning
to devote my non-job time to my musical hobby/business
(http://www.celtic-fiddler.com), and not programming. I'm currently selling
an average of one violin per week; if I can get that to about 15-20 per
week, I wouldn't need to work as a programmer.

That's not to say I don't enjoy programming -- the contract I'm on right now
is the most enjoyable work I've had in several years. However, with the
current situation, it's just getting too hard to find suitable work in the
Dallas area (and AFAICT, there is no SwiftX being used anywhere in the DFW
area, which is why I'm returning to C++; I want to move back home). In
memory of my departed friend and DFW-FIG founder, Clif Penn, I may resurrect
the DFW FIG chapter with the remaining 4 members, as a monthly social
gathering at my house.

Howard Lee Harkness, Contractor

-----Original Message-----
From: swiftx-bounce_at_forth.com [mailto:swiftx-bounce_at_forth.com] On Behalf Of
Ron Oliver
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 9:47 AM
To: swiftx_at_forth.com
Subject: [swiftx] Re: SWOOP vs. SwiftX

On Thu, 14 Jul 2005, Elizabeth D Rather wrote:

> SwiftX employs a sort of meta-vocabulary called "scope" that specifies
> a search order and various other things. SwiftX scopes are described
> in the SwiftX Reference Manual (another pdf). This is an important
> concept to master if you're working with SwiftX.

Howard (or any SwiftX user, for that matter,) you should read the SwiftX
Reference Manual cover to cover. Resist the urge to skim it. You'll know a
lot of it already, but you won't know it all, and it really is an excellent
reference manual. If you don't *really* understand this stuff, you won't
get the most out of SwiftX; you'll end up doing things the hard way because
you don't understand the easy way. It's well worth the investment of time
for both you and your employer.

SwiftX provides a solid Forth cross-development environment. Your time will
be better spent understanding the framework (via the SwiftX manual) than
slogging through the cross-compiler source. If you first understand the
framework from the manual, then the implementation details in the source
will make much more sense.

--
Ron Oliver <roliver_at_openesque.com>
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