Re: "The Best Programming Language for the End of the World"

On Tue, 15 Apr 2025 21:59:21 +0000, Anton Ertl wrote:

mhx@iae.nl (mhx) writes:

1_0 2_0 + . \ output: 30

>
Sorry, I really don't like this. It takes away my
underlying mental model of how things should work.
What happens for "10_ 20_ + ." ?

>
It outputs 30, too.  The intended use of _ in Gforth is like this:
>
100_000_000_000 20_000_000_000 + . \ outputs 120000000000
>
or with groups of 4 for those environments where that is conventional.
>
What does your underlying mental model say how things should work?

My mental model (in a basic Forth context) recognizes a pattern where
'_' means '.'. The output of 1.0 2.0 + . then probably intends to
be 1.0 2.0 d+ d. (the reason for '_' is the wish to process numbers
with embedded decimal point). Numerically the output is then '3' or
maybe '3_0', or '3_00', but never '30.'
Your example

100_000_000_000 20_000_000_000 + . \ outputs 120000000000

is not very appetizing because it combines a useful concept
(allowing a visual cue in number I/O) with the need to
redefine many standard words.
De gustibus non disputandum est.
-marcel