Re: Programming languages for the very young

From: Mark A. Washburn (Reply7471859353_at_wmconnect.com)
Date: 01/26/04 

Date: 26 Jan 2004 07:53:30 -0800

Joe Marshall <prunesquallor@comcast.net> wrote in message
<snip>
> Certainly there are many computer whizzes that could use a little help
> with their English, but I think there are as many English majors who
> would benefit from a computer science course (*not* a computer
> literacy course, but a real programming course). Writing programs is
> a great way to learn critical thinking.

As critical thinking is for writing good programs.

Currently my academic recommendation for
"Introduction to Programming" focuses on a
single language ... Forth ...; And continues thru
advanced programming. With Forth as a starting focus
for learning programming, many directions for opportunities
in /critical thinking/ are opened simultaneously;
from the lowest levels of assembler and assembly language
programming thru the highest levels of problem solving,
in general, and, more specifically, including structured
programming, functional programming, object oriented design
and language compiler design ( ANSI Forth is a nearly ideal
prototyping tool for language design ),

Forth, C and C++, Java and Scheme/Common Lisp is
my current recommendation for academic institutions
wishing to provide a focus for higher learning.
I also recommend, that all majors where computer or
computerization skills are in associate of common
business practice, should also include
"Introduction to Programming", what is untested
is collegia using ANSI Forth literacy within the
exercise language.

Finally, I wish to say that Forth is not the end,
and may only continue to be a small portion of
the total code base. There are many good programming
languages, and after all, as I have said, programming
language design and development is almost an implied
goal of learning to program with Forth.

Mark A. Washburn
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/mawcowboy/homepage.html
maw

***

From: Reply7471859353@wmconnect.com (Mark A. Washburn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.announce,comp.lang.forth
Subject: ANN: myForth features
NNTP-Posting-Host: 172.133.241.178
Message-ID: <ce0bd25d.0401210920.1a7f01ec@posting.google.com>

myForth supports most if the ANSI forth core words
with the
FROM-APPLET CORE
command.

In addition, I have added a basic line graphics mode
with the
FROM-APPLET GR
command.

Afterwhich, you may use line graphics draw mode
with the
TRUE grEnabled
command.

Your canvas size is returned with the
grSize? .s
command.

800 560 <sp ok

You may change the colors and draw a line with this example
FG@ RED FG! 100 100 200 200 drawline FG!

Basic ANSI cursor control is available in text and graphics modes

: ANSI-ESC 27 EMIT 91 EMIT ;
: AT-XY ANSI-ESC 0 <#> TYPE ." ;" 0 <#> TYPE ." f" ;
: PAGE ANSI-ESC ." 2J" ;
: HOME ANSI-ESC ." H" ( or 'f' ) ;
: CUR-UP ANSI-ESC 0 <#> TYPE ." A" ;
: CUR-DOWN ANSI-ESC 0 <#> TYPE ." B" ;
: CUR-RIGHT ANSI-ESC 0 <#> TYPE ." C" ;
: CUR-LEFT ANSI-ESC 0 <#> TYPE ." D" ;
: CLEAR-EOL ANSI-ESC ." K" ; ">

You may create myForth website applets ( forthlets ;) )
( for non-commercial use ) using either the
FROM-APPLET command ( Forth source converted into Applet PARMS
will need to substitute quotes, " into '' , read html source FUDGE )
or using the FROM-URL command.
( FROM-URL can be used inside FROM-APPLET command for quick loading tests )

FROM-URL can load a text file from your website.
For example

FROM-APPLET CORE
FROM-URL http://mywebpage.netscape.com/mawcowboy/count.4th
T1

works.

Regards,

Mark A. Washburn
maw

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