wpohl@hvrunix.UUCP (Walter E. Pohl) (06/10/88)
I was just wondering, what's going on in the Forth world these days?
I haven't used Forth in a couple years, due to lack of access (I said to
myself, when I go to college, I bet they'll have a Forth implementation!
Foolish me.).
Are there any new standards since Forth-83? Have there been any major changes? Has Forth gained any kind of respectability in the computer world? It
seems you don't hear about it and how revolutionary it is as much any more.mdg@smegma.UUCP (Marc de Groot) (06/13/88)
In article <425@hvrunix.UUCP> wpohl@hvrunix.UUCP (Walter E. Pohl) writes: > I was just wondering, what's going on in the Forth world these days? >I haven't used Forth in a couple years, due to lack of access (I said to >myself, when I go to college, I bet they'll have a Forth implementation! >Foolish me.). Most computer science departments don't talk about Forth. The way I have heard it, if Forth is to be found at a university, it is in the electrical engineering department. > Are there any new standards since Forth-83? Have there been any major changes? Has Forth gained any kind of respectability in the computer world? It >seems you don't hear about it and how revolutionary it is as much any more. The IEEE has a standards committee. Perhaps someone who knows details will post here on their progress. Forth-83, to my knowledge, is the latest dialect in wide use. The latest thing in the Forth world that's exciting, in my opinion, is the appearance of hardware Forth implementations. They seem to differ from other hardware language implementations in that the design of the silicon reflects the elegance of Forth itself. There are fewer gates for a given level of functionality. Two companies dealing in hardware Forth implementations are Novix, Inc. and Harris Semiconductor. Novix is in the silicon valley somewhere and Harris is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. -- Marc de Groot (KG6KF) UUCP: uunet!{uport,ubvax}!smegma!mdg AMATEUR PACKET RADIO: KG6KF @ KB6IRS "smegma (smegma) n. 1. Progress, intelligently planned." -D. Dew
smill@Mills.berkeley.edu (Steven Miller) (06/13/88)
There are some interesting things going on in FORTH here at the Mills graduate music department. A computer music language called Hierarchical Music Specification Language (HMSL) has been de- veloped in a specially designed object-oriented version of FORTH. The Language currently runs on the Amiga and Mac families of computers and is designed primarily for real-time interactive applications in music performance, composition, and experiments in musical AI applications. The language makes extensive use of user-defined midi (and for the amiga, local sound, too) virtual instruments to control any midi device, or other custom interfaces the user may wish to implement. For more info contact via ARPA: larry@mills.berkeley.edu phil@mills.berkeley.edu david@mills.berkeley.edu Steven M. Miller
bgahl@scuba.uucp (Robert Gahl Sun Federal Systems Eng.) (06/16/88)
From article <425@hvrunix.UUCP>, by wpohl@hvrunix.UUCP (Walter E. Pohl): > > I was just wondering, what's going on in the Forth world these days? The last Forth meeting I was able to attend (about 6 months ago or so), they discussed that IEEE and ANSI were developing a set of forth standards. The group said the community at large was trying to stone-wall the ANSI group as "they are a bunch of ivory-tower types who will not represent the community at large" and throw all their support to IEEE so it would come out first, or something to that effect. Now, like I said, it has been several months, and my memory refresh isn't what it use to be, so this is all subject to a modicum of change. > Are there any new standards since Forth-83? Have there been any > major changes? Has Forth gained any kind of respectability in the > computer world? It seems you don't hear about it and how > revolutionary it is as much any more. The advent of the NOVIX work by Chuck is quite exciting. So, too, is the work by Glen Haydon et al on their WISC board (writeable instruction set). This is truly a beauty to behold. Here is a plug-in board coprocessor that plugs into the AT/XT bus, and will give you no end in performance. Someone more knowledgeable than I can carry this conversation, as I have only witnessed Glen's demonstration's of it. It is making in-roads in areas of AI currently. One question I might add, and maybe this has been discussed before, is: Has anyone investigated a dedicated Forth PostScript processor. The likeness between the two is uncanny. The PS printers we have around here are 68000 based, and burdened to boot. I was wondering about a FORTH solution, such as NOVIX or WISC, to heighten its processing power. Any ideas? Bob Gahl UUCP: ...!sun!bgahl
Paktor@cup.portal.com (06/17/88)
Marc de Groot writes: > .... Novix is in the silicon valley somewhere .... I posted this before, as part of a much longer posting, in the collection comp/lang/forth/Novix chip with Computer Cowboys software by Calvin Moore undser the title: Novix Development Software Here it is again, just by itself: The best place to get information about the Novix Chip is from Novix them- selves. Their address, phone number, and very existence, is one of the best-kept secrets in Silicon Valley, but I'm going to divulge it, anyway: Novix, Inc., 2933 Bunker Hill Lane, Suite 102 Santa Clara, Calif. 95054 (408) 982 0255 David ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ === Mister Systems === | "You know the times David L Paktor | you impress me the most | are the times when you don't try; Paktor@cup.Portal.com | when you don't even try." -- Joni M. | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~