The False language
John Cowan — 2003-02-24 15:45:27
phimvt@lurac.latrobe.edu.au — 2003-02-26 04:05:42
On Mon, 24 Feb 2003, John Cowan wrote:
> False seems to be a small subset of Joy, developed independently.
>
> Home page: http://wouter.fov120.com/false
> Online docs: http://wouter.fov120.com/false/false.txt
Thanks for that.
Fascinating, even if it inscrutable, largely because of the
restriction that each symbol has to be a single character.
What is truly amazing, though, is that the compiler fits
into 1K of memory. (Back in the days of DEC's PDP10 there used
to be a simple Basic-like language called Focal. Its claim
to glory was that the interpreter fitted into 2K - this meant
that it could run without ever being swapped out, and that
was useful for some systems programming, so I was told.)
Is anybody studying the implementation details of the False language?
- Manfred
John Cowan — 2003-02-26 04:21:17
phimvt@... scripsit:
> Fascinating, even if it inscrutable, largely because of the
> restriction that each symbol has to be a single character.
>
> What is truly amazing, though, is that the compiler fits
> into 1K of memory.
Those two facts evidently go together.
> (Back in the days of DEC's PDP10 there used
> to be a simple Basic-like language called Focal. Its claim
> to glory was that the interpreter fitted into 2K - this meant
> that it could run without ever being swapped out, and that
> was useful for some systems programming, so I was told.)
I used to hack Focal on the PDP-8, where it ran in 4K of 12-bit words
standalone, or 8K with the OS/8 interface -- that part was developed
by Jim van Zee of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
It too had single-letter commands, although multiple letters were legal
(and ignored): S for Set, F for For, D for Do, etc. etc.
--
John Cowan
http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@...
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all. There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
--_The Hobbit_
wtanksleyjr@cox.net — 2003-02-26 05:01:24
From:
phimvt@...
>On Mon, 24 Feb 2003, John Cowan wrote:
>>False seems to be a small subset of Joy,
>>developed independently.
>>Home page: http://wouter.fov120.com/false
>>Online docs: http://wouter.fov120.com/false/false.txt
>Fascinating, even if it inscrutable, largely because
>of the restriction that each symbol has to be a
>single character.
Although that is a bad restriction, I find the language
reasonably readable. There are very few symbols, and
the shortness actually makes it quicker to read through
the definitions.
I'd be amused by a version of it which got rid of its
pick operator (and all the other non-ASCII chars) and
instead provided either dip or direct access to the
return stack.
I may be finding it easier to read because I spent so
much time learning J and K, though. Those are cool
languages, and False has a lot of their "feel", even
though they're essentially applicative (but very
different from other applicative languages).
> - Manfred
-Billy