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[REBOL] Re: WYSIWYG programming

From: joel:neely:fedex at: 25-Oct-2000 8:19

Hi Ladislav, and list, Three brief points (don't die of shock! ;-) 1) Ladislav has done an excellent job of analysis and documentation of the kind of subtlety that can prove fatally threatening to a newcomer's interest in REBOL. His remarks should be read and studied by every REBOL programmer. 2) The current state of REBOL is beginning to remind me of the state of FORTH when I last used it seriously (mid-80s). One issue that hindered the growth and acceptance of FORTH was the fact that one had to understand most of its language-level concepts in terms of implementation details; to effectively use the language, one had to understand ALL of the way that ALL of the core was built. I'd hate to see REBOL suffer the same marginalization. 3) Using an "economic" perspective, one (oversimplified!) conclusion I reach from Ladislav's work is to say the following: To use REBOL control structures reliably, one MUST first understand the significance of copying, deep copying, function definition, and contexts. I worry about whether this cost is so high as to prove prohibitive to entry-level REBOL users. At the VERY LEAST, such issues must be documented with great clarity and completeness to avoid frustration on the part of new or not-so-new REBOL programmers. At the VERY BEST, such issues would be addressed by changes to the implementation/definition of the control structures involved; Ladislav has offered possible solutions, I'm sure there may be others. As always, my remarks are offered in the spirit of desiring VERY MUCH to see REBOL succeed. That desire motivates me to discuss those areas which I perceive as being threats to that success. -jn-