POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.binaries.images : graphing calculator - why not :) : Re: graphing calculator - why not :) Server Time
8 Aug 2024 01:16:12 EDT (-0400)
  Re: graphing calculator - why not :)  
From: Larry Hudson
Date: 16 Dec 2005 22:16:41
Message: <43a38319$1@news.povray.org>

>               I really do not know much about Forth, but I remember that 
> its design strongly is based on stacks, which leads to a syntax which is 
> rather strange compared to other programming language: the "Inverted 
> Polish Notation". Obviously, (one of) the mathematician(s) who invented 
> Forth hailed from Poland...

It's prefix notation that is called Polish notation, and is named for 
the Polish mathemetician Jan Lukasiewicz.  In this notation instead of 
writing 2 + 3 you write + 2 3.  So postfix (2 3 +) is called reverse 
Polish.  This is what HP calculators and the Forth language use.  (I 
still use my HP41CX frequently.)  The Forth language was developed by an 
American named Charles Moore.  It was originally developed to control 
astronomical equipment.

This info is partly from memory and partly from a couple of quick Google 
searches for the names...    :-)

Incidentally, Forth is a fascinating programming language -- I used to 
dabble with it some, but never learned it very well.    :-(

      -=- Larry -=-


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