ANS in my pants... miscellaneous ramblings
- To: "misc" <MISC>
- Subject: ANS in my pants... miscellaneous ramblings
- From: "vic plichota" <atsvap@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 16:56:05 -0400
WRT 'portability': I feel compelled to point out that (despite
over-blown advertising) I have yet to see a perfect port, in any
language. In my experience, the most portable code relies on a
complete description of the algorithm, and that description depends
upon a narrative preface (as opposed to a line-by-line description)
that *actually*explains* what is happening... even the LINUX / GNU
GPL is guilty of this "I'm not going to tell you how it actually
works" crap.
My best and proudest code winds up being (by ASCII-char count) more
than 50% commentary, and half of that is before anything compiles...
Have I been giving away trade secrets? -- well, GLADLY!!!
Who cares what language it's supposed to be written in? COBOL?
REXX? OK! Just say what you mean, and mean what you say...
ANSI-FORTH scared the pants off me -- I felt immediately
ham-strung -- no room for creativity (or even flexibility).
cheers + F'EATH - vic
