Dynamicly extending an application (during runtime).
Quote:
> Is it possible to allow an application created with Forth
> to have it's own Forth, so as to allow the user to extend
> the application itself while using that application?
This question is important not for Forth alone but for
human-computer interfaces and for choosing a language.
Quote:
> For instance, an application which starts up as a generic,
>'bare-bones' window-based program which basically does nothing
> since the user would extend it to do whatever he or she wants
> (although there would have to be some basic stuff, obviously,
> at least enough to allow the user to call and create 'macros').
A scripting language such as ARexx on the Amiga lets the user
not only call other programs but pass data back and forth among
the separate applications, such as a telecommunications program
and a database. With ARexx on the Amiga you can automate complex
tasks which would require drudgery using the standalone programs.
Quote:
> There could be some sets of common extensions which are created
> by users, the original developers and/or future developers, and
> are implemented as macros (I might be using the wrong term, but
> I think everyone understands what I am talking about). This way
> the program could be extended into a text editor, spreadsheet, etc.
> very easily by merely calling a macro. Or else a user could
> have exactly the application he or she wanted without having any
> unwanted extras, just by extending only those program attributes
> he or she is interested in.
> Everything up to here is doable without dynamic extensibility, I
> believe, but what if a user could change the program *while using it*?
Or what if the program wanted consciously to change itself during use?
http://www.*-*-*.com/
is public domain artificial intelligence that needs to be able to
adapt to how much RAM is available in its environment, and needs
to be able to run indefinitely without fear of a system crash
after "x" number of elapsed seconds or the arrival of a day in 2038.
Quote:
> So a particular feature could be added right when it is wanted instead
> of having to change the source, recompile (or whatever the term I
> should use is) and then restart the program. This way one copy
> of the program could be used for virtually anything, possibly even
> with a user definable macro file in which a user can save extensions
> or sets of extensions he or she likes, so as to avoid retyping them in.
Extensions to Mind.Forth PD AI would be sensory memory channels beyond
the original auditory simulation, and robotic hardware control outputs.
The http://www.*-*-*.com/ high performance computing facility of the
Army Research Laboratory has recently put out a call for people to
do brain-modeling on their supercomputers, and Mind.Forth is a ready-
to-go platform for mind-modeling, but the description of software at
the ARL site seems to lack Forth. Can most supercomputers use Forth?
Quote:
> A dynamically configurable program, starting as a generic program and
> able to be as specific or general as the user wants. Basically a
> program which is completely changeable during runtime.
