Re: "religion" was CPUs and Forth

["erikc" <firewevr@xxxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Myron Plichota <myron.plichota@sympatico.ca>
To: misc@pisa.rockefeller.edu <misc@pisa.rockefeller.edu>
Date: Friday, June 23, 2000 11:38
Subject: Re: "religion" was CPUs and Forth


>> > I got a lot of harsh words with my
>> > message of simplicity on comp.arch.fpga, but nobody drove over here and
>> > shot at my house.  And in a very real sense FORTH /is/ a religion.
>>
>> Are you saying that as long as they aren't shooting at _you_ you
>> think it is good to encourage them or whip them into a frenzy
>> with more talk that Forth is a religion? I really don't like to
>> dignify their attacks with discussions but occasionaly I see
>> people saying that they like Forth but agree it is a religion...
>
>I had no idea that there could ever be such serious consequences for the
>(mis)use of the word "religion" in such an obviously mechanical and
>non-spiritual context as computer methodology. I always meant it as a
>tongue-in-cheek tip of my hat to the term's historic use in debate
>rhetoric. I suppose "philosophy" would be a more precise word to use to
>label the typical Forth afficianado's esthetic regard for elegant
>simplicity and building a better mousetrap. I won't use the R word any more
>if this has been known to cause real problems. "People are the craziest
>monkeys."

Most people are herd animals (sheeple).  MISCers are "lone wolves" who buck
the trend.  This frightens the sheeple.  And I think the word "religious",
if used to mean "any set of beliefs whose questioning upsets the believer"
(which pretty much covers everything from attitudes about god to how to
build a CPU) is appropriate.

I understand the first 10x in reduction; I once had to write code for a
medical product in C that had to fit in an 8K ROM.  It wouldn't fit.  So I
wrote a fig-forth inner interpreter and some custom words, recoded the
lowest level stuff in assembly and the rest in my own variant of forth, and
the whole thing weighed in at about 5K of code.  (I was already past 32K in
C when I blew off C)  I never told the boss and the product is still
selling.

I don't completely understand everything that Chuck, Jeff, et. al.  are
doing, so I try to keep my mouth shut and wrap my brain around it.  At this
point in time, all I can really say is that I think they are on to
something, and this scares the other guys.

Keep rocking the boat, folks!

>Myron Plichota