[author : MDO] #Edito
Extract : « Dr. Dobb’s is pleased to present this all-FORTH issue. The material should prove of interest both to FORTH followers and to the uninitiated. We believe it presents a rounded viewpoint, although as one of our frequent contributors noted, those who do not like the language lose interest quickly, also losing the desire to express any opinion on it. [...] »
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[author : Kim Harris] #Prolog #HowItWorks #Method
Extract : « FORTH is an unconventional software package which is easily misunderstood. That is because it is based on a philosophy which is moderately different from that of traditional programming systems. This article describes a set of goals, assumptions, and techniques which are practiced by most experienced FORTH programmers. Part I discusses the philosophy and part II (to be published in a following issue of DDJ) relates FORTH’s implementation of this philosophy. FORTH is described as a unified approach to programming which provides a complete environment for the execution or the development of programs. Its goals are high quality, simple, and general software systems which can solve a wide range of systems and applications problems. [...]
FORTH was invented in the late 1960’s by Charles Moore, who was trying to increase his own productivity as an applications programmer [...] »
[author : William F. Ragsdale] #Forth #Programming #Book
Extract : « This article should further polarize the attitudes of those outside the growing community of FORTH users. Some will be fascinated by a label-less macro-assembler whose source code is only 96 lines long! Others will be repelled by reverse Polish syntax and the absence of labels.
The author immodestly claims that this is the best FORTH assembler ever distributed. It is the only such assembler that detects all errors in op-code generation and conditional structuring. It is released to the public domain as a defense mechanism: three good 6502 assemblers were submitted to the FORTH Interest Group but each had some lack. Rather than merge and edit for publication, I chose to publish mine with all the submitted features plus several more.
Imagine having an assembler in 1300 bytes of object code with:
1. User macros (like IF, UNTIL) definable at any time.
2. Literal values expressed in any numeric base, alterable at any time.
3. Expressions using any resident computation capability.
4. Nested control structures without labels, with error control.
5. Assembler source itself in a portable high level language. [...] »
[author : R. G. Loeliger] #Forth #Languages #Book
Extract : « [...] What is FORTH and why all the furor? FORTH is after all only a computer language — right? Well, maybe! The jury is still out on the language issue in most respects. FORTH is a threaded language certainly, but it is just as helpful to consider it an environment as a language. Hopefully this and several other attributes of FORTH will become more evident in the following.
The essential idea behind FORTH or any other threaded language is to create a pseudo-machine from a real machine (or computer). [...] »
[author : Henry Laxen] #Listing #Forth #Office
Extract : « [...] This editor, as it stands, has been implemented on several different CPU’s with absolutely no modification whatsoever. These include such diverse processors as the Zilog Z-80 and a DEC PDP-11. Furthermore, it has been modified to run with many different types of terminals, as well as memory-mapped video boards. It stands as a testimonial to the extreme transportability of FORTH. [...] »
[author : Glen B. Haydon] #Listing #Forth #DataManagement #Book
Extract : « In the spirit of the FORTH Interest Group, this discussion and the FORTH screens are placed in the public domain. However, further distribution must include this notice and an appropriate acknowledgment. [...]
This discussion presents a group of utility FORTH word definitions which facilitate the development of custom data bases and a sample application using utilities to define a small file. A number of techniques available in FORTH are illustrated. [...]
In conclusion, I find this approach to file definition is time saving and hope that you will find it useful. The discussion of the FORTH utilities used to define a new data base field and the example of handling data, provides some elaboration of the information included on the screens. [...] »
[author : Ray Duncan] #Listing #Forth #Programming
Extract : « The FORTH Decompiler utility program will decode and list the "top layer" of any "high level defined" word in the glossary. This capability is useful when developing applications interactively at the keyboard; the final version of a definition can be listed on the terminal or line printer for later editing into the screen file. It is also instructive for a new FORTH programmer to decompile the various FORTH interpreter/compiler system words, both to see how they work and to learn programming style by the implementor’s example. [...] »
[author : Dave Cortesi]
Extract : « Two Products Step FORTH (MicroMotion, FIG-FORTH implementation for CP/M with a floating point arithmetic feature) [...]
North Star, Meet CP/M [...]
Getting Serious About Atari [...]
Minority Computerists, Unite! [...]
An Abundance of Information (articles about CP/M, programs, Microcomputer User’s Idea Book, Robotics Industry Director) [...]
Lowering the Price of Words (a computerized typesetting system, based on the Commodore VIC) [...]
Lower the Price of Hardware [...]
3M Cartridge Control for CP/M [...]
IBM Dips Toe in Market [...] IBM System 23 Datamaster, "a low-cost, desktop computer that can combine word processing with data processing in a single system designed for first-time users." [...] »
[author : Mitchell E. Timin] #Forth #HowItWorks
Extract : « There is a new way of using a computer that is still unfamiliar to most computer people. It is known as FORTH. Although many have heard of FORTH, relatively few understand just what it is. The purpose of this article is to describe FORTH.
A Computer Utilization System
FORTH is a computer utilization system, not just a language. FORTH is a language, but it also includes the capabilities of an operating system, a text editor, an assembler, and a monitor. It is a complete system for making use of a computer. With FORTH all of these facilities are memory resident, and hence available for immediate use. This is in contrast to conventional systems, where the editor, language compiler, etc. are separate utilities needing to be loaded into memory from disk each time they are used. [...] »
#Experience #Forth
Extract : « DUP DUP NEG AND = [...]
Shifty Coding [...]
The Switch [...]
Separate But Equal [...]
Submitting to CP/M [...] »