Re: [Gnu-arch-users] arch roadmap 1 (and "what's tom up to")

[Tom Lord]

    > From: Aaron Bentley <address@hidden>

    > The plan is *also* to make libtla into a real library, which can
    > then have bindings for various languages, scripting or
    > otherwise.  So Furth's not necessary for the purpose of creating
    > friendly interfaces.

My hope/plan is that the excuse of furth can help to drive the
(generic) librification-of-tla which we have amply mapped out but
haven't mustered labor for.

So, even if you believe furth sucks and language X is better, when
Furth hits arch, most of the resulting work will benefit an X-binding
as well.


    > But there's a lot of sense in mixed-language programming; using a 
    > scripting language for the high-level stuff, and using C for the 
    > low-level stuff.  I just don't know whether the advantages of using 
    > Furth instead of an existing language will outweigh the disadvantages that
    > - No one knows Furth

You do in the sense that it's a simpler and more general experession
of the essense of your favorite language.

    > - There are no Furth libraries or GPLed code that we can use
    > - Furth will take time and effort to develop

To quote some quoters who found a choice quote:

  A line may take us hours, yet if it does not seem a moment's thought
  All our stitching and unstitching has been as nought.
                        Yeats
                        _Adam's Curse_

Less flippantly, the core "inner interpreter" for furth is weighing in
at under 3k lines of code.  I think it will be easier to spin off tiny
(but all compatible) little languages for arch based on this than by
any other approach.   If you're worried about having access to 
huge libraries of non-arch code you might want to integrate --- follow
asuffield's example (of thinking up a trivial way to turn furth libs
of primitive functions into Perl-accessible libs).

The worst case is that you can think of Furth as little or nothing
more than that part of the arch API which makes bindings to other
languages easier.

-t