Tech Arsenal 1/Tech Arsenal (Arsenal Computer).ISO/tek-04/msh20.zip/MSHFILES.ZIP/DESIGN.DOC

Text File | 1992-02-03 | 2KB | 30 lines

Before you make suggestions, let me explain a few of the design decisions
of MSH so you make your suggestions knowingly.

- The language: why is it Forth-like? I wanted to have the whole language
 compiler/interpreter/debugger fit in very little memory (currently about
 15K of code) -- only Forth fits this bill. I agree with people who find
 that Forth is hard to read and maintain -- hopefully the debugger alleviates
 that somewhat. I have considered replacing the language with a Lisp-like
 language. Though I find that much better than Forth, I am not sure everybody
 agrees. Please do not suggest to me replacing the language with a Basic-like
 language, I won't do it out of personal distaste. I won't consider also
 a C or Pascal-like language unless you tell me how to write the whole thing
 including debugger under 25K of code. Despite the above considerations, I
 am really open to any suggestion- provided it is based on sound knowledge
 rather than wild speculation.

- Why is the mouse interface not exactly CUA? Well -- I tried. The problem
 is that I did not want to complicate the language by distinguishing
 between menus and submenus -- that's why it does not "know" to go to the
 next submenu when you scan the mouse across the top row. May be I could
 solve the problem with a more object-oriented design -- precise suggestions
 welcome.

- Why are there no fancy decorations like shadows on the windows?
 I am using a curses package in the hope of porting the code some day --
 if you tell me how to write shadowed windows under curses, I will do it
 (actually I have access to the curses source code and would consider
 making some small changes to it to implement that).