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[ColorForth] Random comments


On Wednesday 22 August 2001 14:45,  Tom Novelli wrote:
> I saw something about a one-handed keyboard with 15 keys.. I say, add
> another shift key, make it 16.. that's a 4x4 matrix. It would be
> perfect for a handheld computer. As a peripheral, I'd make it narrow,
> hold it in my left hand like a guitar or fiddle.. I might even put
> strings and frets on it instead of keys, or little round buttons like
> a concertina. Better tactile feedback.

If you have a Java enabled browser, you might want to play with my 4 
key text entry system at:

  http://www.lsi.usp.br/~jecel/merlin4.7/features.html

with the text tables and explanations at:

  http://www.lsi.usp.br/~jecel/merlin4.7/chord.html

> Side note: there's a [half-dead] OS project called TUNES, which I
> joined back when I got into forth, asm, and OS development.. it
> occurs to me that ColorForth accomplishes most of the TUNES goals.
> And fast compilation does away with the need for the fancy "object
> migration" and memory management everyone thought TUNES would
> require. Oh yeah, my point? ColorForth is approaching perfection :)

Tunes and ColorForth are opposites in many ways (don't let their 
current interested in the Forth-like language Joy fool you). Tunes is 
about having the most possible meta data around so the software can 
take care of everything and you can have optimizations and safety 
through "proof systems". ColorForth is about letting the programmer 
handle all the details eliminating the need for meta data by keeping 
the source around.

As always, each approach has its good points and bad points.

-- Jecel
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