A0005.HTM (6876B)
1 <title>ANS Forth RFI 0005: initiation semantics</title> 2 3 This document is produced by TC X3J14 as its clarification of questions 4 raised about ANSI X3.215-1994, American National Standard for Information 5 Systems - Programming Languages - Forth. 6 7 <p> 8 The questions covered herein were raised by query 9 10 <p> 11 Q0005, regarding the definition of "initiation semantics". 12 13 <p>There are four parts in this document: 14 15 <ol> 16 <li><a href="#query">The original question as received.</a> 17 <li><a href="#reply">The TC's reply.</a> 18 <li><a href="#ballot">The Letter Ballot issued by TC Chair.</a> 19 <li><a href="#results">TC Chair's statement of ballot results.</a> 20 </ol> 21 22 <h2><a name="query">Q0005 as received</a></h2> 23 24 <pre> 25 Subject: Q0005 Request Recognized 26 To: X3J14@minerva.com 27 Date: Tue, 12 Sep 95 19:02:13 PDT 28 </pre> 29 30 The following query has been assigned number Q0005 and has been 31 tentatively assigned to Jim Rash for drafting a response. 32 - Greg Bailey, by direction 950913 0159Z 33 <hr> 34 35 <i><blockquote> 36 I can not find the definition of " Initiation [semantics]" in the 37 " <a href=dpans2.htm#2.1>2.1</a> Definitions of terms" but see this term in " <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.0450>6.1.0450</a> :", p.30. 38 39 <p> 40 Best regards, Michael 41 42 <pre> 43 Michael L. Gassanenko 44 gml@ag.pu.ru 45 </pre> 46 </blockquote></i> 47 48 <p> 49 [Co-author Elizabeth Rather <erather@forth.com> adds:] 50 51 <p> 52 You will see it in <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.1250>6.1.1250</a> <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.1250>DOES></a> as well. This describes the behavior of 53 a word defined by <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.0450>:</a> or a <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.1250>DOES></a> word when it begins to execute. The 54 realization that this should be specified separately came rather late in 55 the process, and I believe you are correct that we have not defined this 56 term adequately. I am referring your comment to the TC to see whether they 57 feel something should be done, such as publishing a clarification. 58 59 <p>Thank you for calling it to our attention. 60 61 62 <h2><a name="reply">TC Reply to Q0005</a></h2> 63 64 <pre> 65 From: Elizabeth Rather 66 Subject: Q0005R, Initiation Semantics, Official Response 67 To: X3J14 Technical Committee 68 Cc: lbarra@itic.nw.dc.us 69 Date: Mon, 19 Feb 96 14:09 70 71 Doc#: X3J14/Q0005R 72 Reference Doc#: X3.215.1994 ANS Forth 73 Date: February 19, 1996 74 Title: Response to Request for Interpretation Q0005, Initiation Semantics 75 </pre> 76 <hr> 77 78 <i><blockquote> 79 I can not find the definition of "Initiation [semantics]" in the 80 " <a href=dpans2.htm#2.1>2.1</a> Definitions of terms" but see this term in " <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.0450>6.1.0450</a> :", p.30. 81 82 <p> 83 Best regards, Michael 84 85 <pre> 86 Michael L. Gassanenko 87 gml@ag.pu.ru 88 </pre> 89 </blockquote></i> 90 91 It is noted that the Technical Committee included, in Section <a href=dpans2.htm#2.1>2.1</a> of the 92 standard, definitions of the terms "compilation semantics" and "execution 93 semantics". 94 95 <p> 96 For similar reasons, the TC agrees that the standard should also include a 97 definition of the term "initiation semantics" in Section <a href=dpans2.htm#2.1>2.1</a> Definitions 98 of Terms: 99 100 <dl> 101 <dt> initiation semantics: 102 <dd> The behavior of a Forth definition, or of the portion of a 103 Forth definition following <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.1250>DOES></a>, when it begins execution. 104 </dl> 105 106 By way of further clarification, when a definition begins execution, the 107 system may perform implementation-dependent actions such as placing items 108 on the return stack to allow return to a calling definition. These actions 109 are invisible to a standard program except at certain points during the 110 execution of definitions created with <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.0450>:</a> (colon) or <a href=dpans6.htm#6.2.0455>:NONAME</a> and during the 111 execution of the code following <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.1250>DOES></a>. At these points, the sole visible 112 result is the possible presence of the implementation-dependent _nest-sys_ 113 on the return stack. 114 115 <p> 116 Within a given implementation, definitions created with <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.0450>:</a> (colon) all have 117 the same initiation semantics. Similarly for all definitions created with 118 <a href=dpans6.htm#6.2.0455>:NONAME</a> or <a href=dpans6.htm#6.1.1250>DOES></a>. 119 120 <h2><a name="ballot">Letter Ballot</a></h2> 121 122 <pre> 123 X3 Subgroup Letter Ballot 124 Authorized by X3 Procedures - Distributed by X3 Subgroup X3J14 125 Project: X3J14, ANS Forth 126 Doc#: X3J14/LB016 127 Reference Doc#s: X3J14/Q0005R, X3.215.1994 ANS Forth 128 Date: February 19, 1996 129 Title: Response to Request for Interpretation Q0005, Initiation Semantics 130 Ballot Period: 30 Days 131 Ballot Closes NOON DATE: March 21, 1996 132 Respond to: greg@minerva.com 133 or: Elizabeth D. Rather, Chair 134 FORTH, Inc. 135 111 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Suite 300 136 Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 137 (310) 372-8493 FAX (310) 318-7130 138 erather@forth.com 139 140 Statement: 141 Document X3J14/Q0005R contains a proposed Response to Request for 142 Interpretation Q0005. 143 144 Question: 145 Do you agree that this response represents the intended interpretation of 146 X3.215.1994 ANS Forth? 147 148 149 /------------------------ begin response area----------------------\ 150 | 151 | YES____ NO____ ABSTAIN____ 152 | 153 | Signature: [not required for email ballots] 154 | Name: 155 | Organization: 156 | 157 | Explanation (REQUIRED for NO or ABSTAIN votes): 158 | <none> 159 \------------------------ end response area ----------------------/ 160 161 INSTRUCTIONS: 162 Please return the entire letter ballot with your response _either_ by email 163 to greg@minerva.com _or_ by regular mail or fax or email to me at the above 164 address, before the closing date & time. 165 166 If replying electronically PLEASE edit only within the response area 167 indicated above, inserting any explanatory text in place of <none>. 168 Any changes made outside that area will likely be overlooked. 169 170 All TC members must vote. Failure to vote in two consecutive ballots may 171 cause you to lose your voting rights in X3J14. 172 173 Thank you for your participation. 174 175 Elizabeth D. Rather, Chair, X3J14 176 </pre> 177 178 <h2><a name="results">Results of Letter Ballot</a></h2> 179 180 <pre> 181 Letter ballot 16 closed at noon March 21 with the following results: 182 183 Y N A NV 184 LB16: 10, 1, 1, 2 185 186 "No" vote on LB16 from L. Zettel, with the following comment: 187 188 | I agree with the explanation given for the meaning of "initiation 189 | semantics" and with the explanation for the committee's intent in 190 | the language of the standard. 191 | 192 | I do not agree with the declaration of intent to add a formal 193 | definition of "initiation semantics" to the Standard. 194 | 195 |>From: JEThomas@ix.netcom.com (Jonah Thomas) 196 | 197 |>What the original document said, in <a href=dpans3.htm#3.4.3>3.4.3</a> Semantics, was 'The terms 198 |>"initiation semantics" and "run-time semantics" refer to definition 199 |>fragments, and have meaning only within the individual glossary 200 |>entries where they appear.' 201 202 203 Abstention from John Hayes. 204 <pre>