On Mar 9, 2:37 pm, Jonah Thomas <jethom...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> But the usability of shared code probably follows a power law. There are
> a few great applications that lots of people use. A larger number of
> adequate applications that can be made to work. And a lot of junk. If
> there isn't much code there, then the natural expectation would be that
> there would be no great applications, a very few adequate applications
> that can be adapted in reasonable time, and a moderate amount of junk.
> Isn't that what we see in Forth? If in C 1% of the public code provides
> 99% of the usability, how much usable shared code would you expect
> starting from 0.1% as much code total?
> Now, lots and lots of people learn C and other mainstream languages in
> school. And each of them would like to get a leg up in the programming
> market.
When Forth had its highest profile, a much larger share of the
microcomputer industry were hobbyists excited by the idea of getting
"their very own" computer ... the ratio of hobbyist:industry was much
higher than today.
And Forth code was released because people had written it to do
something, and didn't mind sharing it around.
That's my situation. If I write something as a hobbyist activity I'll
release it publicly because, while probably few if any will be
interested, if any are I might get some useful feedback. That was BMW,
Niclos, shuttlepad, ThePanel and a couple of other things ... if any
get to the point of usability, of course I'll release it. I reckon
many would say wrt BMW, before it gets to the point of usability.
Professionally, after looking at the various macro packages to make it
easier to write Math in html, I may be using Bernd Paysan's little
Forth-in-html code to roll my own ... most of the packages are focused
on higher level math (and therefore on LaTex) than I need to teach
intro postsecondary math. Obviously I would release any of that if it
proves useful, but I never would have seen it in those terms without
the leg up from the ``<html>'' word and the established string macro
system publicized as part of the i18n effort.
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