> Alain: You are a hard act to follow, Anthony.
> In the recent past, we had a heated debate
> concerning the 'evils' of the infamous "do" cmd.
> Fast-forward several weeks though ... and now
> you are suggesting: "Dynamic rewriting of the
> syntax at runtime", an even more 'risky'
> proposition than runtime-variable-naming.
Anthony: Because I happen to have a good way of
rewriting the syntax without killing performance.
Alain: Oh! I thought that your main objections to the
'do' command were security-related. My impression now
is that speed is the overriding concern.
Anthony: Oddly enough, this is going to be FAR faster
than the equivelant set of 'do's, and much easier to
read and understand.
Alain: "much easier to read and understand" ... now
you're talking! ;-)
> Alain: Don't get me wrong. I like the idea. The
> more flexibility and accessibility, the better.
Anthony: It would, however, allow what you want and a
lot more.
Alain: Yes, that's what I wrote. I like the idea. I'm
just a little bit surprised, and I'm finding you a
little hard to predict.
> Alain: Only comments??
Anthony: I consider 'comment' to have a _very_ broad
definition. Anything from quick `I hate it you
#@^(*^@!# idiot' to a formal syntax spec. When I say
`comments are welcome' I mean input, suggestions, etc.
of any kind.
Alain: Fair enough. I was just ranting (again) about
the lack of input/impact that a non-programmer like
myself can have in a collaboration of programmers.
> Alain: Sounds like we are not going to have
> much input/debate on the syntax of FreeScript.
Anthony: Why?
Alain: I can rant and rave as much as I want, but when
it comes down to the nitty-gritty, the programmers
will implement what they want, when they want to, the
way they want to, etc. We are not collaboratively
designing FreeCard (all of us) then coding
(programmers). The programmers are designing and
implementing, on-the-fly.
> Alain: We will have what you provide us with.
Anthony: No, with what I'm planning to provide now,
you'll have the tools to extend it to do almost
anything... Alain, you're missing the point of the
recent Interpreter changes: I'm trying to get the
syntax out of my hands.
Alain: An orientation that it sure to please. No doubt
or insincerity about it. I have not missed the point
at all. I am just a little bit incredulous,
dumbfounded, or something like that!
Anthony: I want to get a basic interpreter done --
math, if/then/else, loops, strings, etc. I then want
to leave the rest of the commands elsewhere, so that I
need not deal with them. Or that so at least someone
else can help deal with them. I don't want to have to
implement every syntax proposal to come in. I want
whoever proposes it to be able to.
Alain: Ohm! This is precisely what I want.
Anthony: Somehow I think #3 and above, should the ever
spread out of FreeCard, are going to make me either
famous or infamous; not quite sure which.
Alain: Famous. Trust me on this. If the masses won't
come to programming, then we will bring programming to
the masses, e.g. by becoming easier, more relevant and
more accessible to creative people who don't have
formal training in computer science. More cognitive,
less technical.
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