John Draper, AKA Cap'n Crunch, made a great case for it:
"It was a perfect coding environment, coding in jail. [...] Those long nights without the computer really got my smarts in top gear, as I really focused in getting the code perfect and bug free. Not having a computer some of the time, got me to thinking more about writing good code, and less time debugging. During this time, I wrote a really cool FORTH debugger that allowed single stepping through FORTH code (Totally unheard of in those days).
I also write a De-compiler that would take the compiled FORTH code and re-generate source code. This was invaluable in tracing down some gnarly compiler problems in FORTH. You see, I was not only writing a word processor, but I was also developing the language on the fly as well. Modifying the compiler, interpreter, and I even write a DOS (In forth) to manage the easyWriter text files, because EasyWriter didn't need DOS. So I implemented one, using a FAT (File allocation table) and all that other Gnarly Disk Operating system low level code. I found out that FORTH allowed me total flexibility. If the language didn't have a feature, I implemented it. Simple as that.
The day finally came when I was to be released from jail, and Matt had already rented a fully furnished apartment in West Berkeley for me, and met me at the jail when I was released. That evening, we met at the IHOP on University Ave to sign the contract YAY!! and the incorporation papers YAY! Now we can call ourselves Cap'n Software Inc. We rented office space on Telegraph avenue a block from the UC Berkeley campus and called it our "Corporate Headquarters".
Soon we got our first royalty check of $3500, and I gave Matt $1000 of it and put him on a salary. Michelle, Matt's roommate and holistic friend was hired on as our Secretary, and handled all of our bookkeeping. WOW!! I get out of jail and in 24 hours, am president of my very own software company. SUPER COOL!!"
http://www.webcrunchers.com/crunch/Play/ibmstory/
I also write a De-compiler that would take the compiled FORTH code and re-generate source code. This was invaluable in tracing down some gnarly compiler problems in FORTH. You see, I was not only writing a word processor, but I was also developing the language on the fly as well. Modifying the compiler, interpreter, and I even write a DOS (In forth) to manage the easyWriter text files, because EasyWriter didn't need DOS. So I implemented one, using a FAT (File allocation table) and all that other Gnarly Disk Operating system low level code. I found out that FORTH allowed me total flexibility. If the language didn't have a feature, I implemented it. Simple as that.
The day finally came when I was to be released from jail, and Matt had already rented a fully furnished apartment in West Berkeley for me, and met me at the jail when I was released. That evening, we met at the IHOP on University Ave to sign the contract YAY!! and the incorporation papers YAY! Now we can call ourselves Cap'n Software Inc. We rented office space on Telegraph avenue a block from the UC Berkeley campus and called it our "Corporate Headquarters".
Soon we got our first royalty check of $3500, and I gave Matt $1000 of it and put him on a salary. Michelle, Matt's roommate and holistic friend was hired on as our Secretary, and handled all of our bookkeeping. WOW!! I get out of jail and in 24 hours, am president of my very own software company. SUPER COOL!!" http://www.webcrunchers.com/crunch/Play/ibmstory/