[comp.lang.forth] Multitasking in Forth

Marcos_de_la_Puerta_Borja%EUSKOM.SPRITEL.ES@SCFVM.GSFC.NASA.GOV (04/05/91)

 > Hi,  I am just learning FORTH and have come across a single board computer
 > with FORTH in ROM.  The FORTH system is multi-tasking which has been
 > implemented using the words: TASK taskname programname
 >                              IN 20 TM taskname EVERY 1 TS taskname
 > Twenty minutes after entering these lines the program, programname, will exec
ut
 > %>e
 > and continue executing every one second thereafter.  Ten tasks may be schedul
ed
 > to run simultaneously.  This is very convenient for the mobile robot I'm
 > building.
 >
 > MY QUESTION:  Are there other SBCs (ie New Micros Inc) that are multi-tasking

 > -----------   Is the word TASK part of fig-FORTH standards (I suspect not)
 >

    No.

    TASK is a dummy word in fig-Forth. TASK is usually compiled at the
beginning of a module, making easier to remove a complete module simply
by FORGETting TASK.

    Vesta's SBCs (better ask to Jax) come with a Forth system in ROM with
multitasking and some other interesting features. I am working now with a
TDS9090 card, with a 6303, It has a very complete Forth system in ROM, and
I buiult a multitasking kernel for it. I will describe it in an article
for FD soon along with an introduction to concurrent programming.

 > FYI:  This is all running on a Z80A cpu at 4MHz with 16Mb RAM

    16 MB? Or 16KB?

************************************************************************
Borja Marcos              * Internet: m_d_l_p_b@euskom.spritel.es
Alangoeta, 11, 1o izq.    * UUCP: uunet!euskom.spritel.es!m_d_l_p_b
48990 - Algorta (Vizcaya) * FidoNet: Borja Marcos at 2:344/3.420
SPAIN                     *
Tel: +34 4 469-66-53      *
************************************************************************

S47852EF@ETSUACAD.BITNET ("Frank C. Earl") (04/05/91)

On Thu, 4 Apr 91 21:06:00 +0100 <Marcos_de_la_Puerta_Borja@EUSKOM.SPRITEL.ES>
said:
>    Vesta's SBCs (better ask to Jax) come with a Forth system in ROM with
>multitasking and some other interesting features. I am working now with a
>TDS9090 card, with a 6303, It has a very complete Forth system in ROM, and
>I buiult a multitasking kernel for it. I will describe it in an article
>for FD soon along with an introduction to concurrent programming.
>

Have you considered submitting a similar article to the SIGForth Newsletter or
to TCJ?      I don't have membership in FIG (And with the hubub going on about
problems inside FIG, I'm not sure I want to join in right at the moment); and,
I'm quite sure that there are many more that aren't members either (The Dallas
chapter, from what I understand, folded due to lack of interest more than
anything else...   And the nearest chapter is AUSTIN...   If I have few reasons
to join up, there must be more people that haven't joined too...  :)
Putting it in SIGForth would get better academic and professional coverage; and
putting it in TCJ would get a very broad exposure of Forth and multitasking to
the general embedded computing community (Another suggestion would be Doctor
Dobbs- for the entire computing community...)


Frank