pkb@rochester.UUCP (Peter Blaser) (02/08/84)
I have a portable version of Forth written in C which is 83 standard. It will also work on non-Unix systems without the I/O module and it has a portable assembler of sorts. Instead of machine code being the heart of the Forth system, the C switch statement uses an integer to decide the next instruction to be performed. The integers then become Forth machine opcodes if you will, and you can define code words which are portable to other machines. This system is not applications oriented, but it makes a good research tool and teacher. It is possible to change the behavior of the machine quite easily since the code is very small. New implementations of Forth can be experimented with and many people can learn Forth. This system was recently developed from an older system demonstrated at the last Rochester Forth Conference (I learned from my mistakes), and it should be available via the uucp near the end of February by the latest. As for a previous writer's comments on Forth on Unix as being a toy or a cheap calculator, I submit that it is a very powerful model from which all Forth programmers can learn or develop new ideas. Peter Blaser rochester!pkb pkb@rochester