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From: cicdphx@indirect.com (Larry Battraw)
Subject: Re: Forth for 68k
Message-ID: <cicdphx.18.0050BD2D@indirect.com>
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Organization: Clark I.C. Design
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 14:51:35 GMT
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In article <3hdd97$9kr@ks.mpi-dortmund.mpg.de> plewe@sk (J.Plewe) writes:
>From: plewe@sk (J.Plewe)
>Subject: Forth for 68k
>Date: 13 Feb 1995 15:44:39 GMT


>Hello!

>Is anybody here interested in Forth programming??

>I am able to provide a low-cost (or even no-cost in most cases) Forth
>system conforming the new ANSI Forth standard: 

>        F68KANS

>The system generates 32bit native code for the 680x0-series. It is
>*very* easy to implement on any hardware. No assembly of the system is
>necessary. The binary itself is portable.
>What you need are two small functions recieving and emitting
>characters. With these, F68KANS provides an interactive programming
>environment directly running on the hardware. No cross-development!

>This may be useful when bringing up a new hardware. Just make it run
>the two functions and then bring up the rest interactively. 

>If you want to go further you can easily do application programming
>with F68KANS, too. E.g. it already includes a simple (but fast!)
>round-robin multitasker, which is sufficient for a lot of problems.

>If you have libraries, F68KANS offers an open and easy-to-use interface.


>F68KANS has turned out to be
>        - fast
>        - reliable
>        - easy to use
>        - inexpensive
>        - versatile


>I'm doing F68KANS as a hobby, so I apologize advertising it here. If
>there will be no positive echo, I swear I will never disturb again.

>- Joerg Plewe

>Prefered E-mail: jps@Forth-ev.de



        I'd like to back Joerg up on this;  I've been using F68KANS for some time 
now, and it is a very clean, well structured implementation of FORTH.  It was 
the first language I was able to load onto my bare 68020 (homebuilt) board, 
and will probably be the last, as it is so easy to use.  Porting was a snap as 
there's no re-compilation (just a pre-compiled binary image), and in addition 
to the character I/O, it's possible to integrate any number of external 
C/ASM/etc. functions into the FORTH language itself with ease.  With this 
ability to integrate external functions, it runs well on a small board like 
mine, or a full commercial computer, with all the fancy external C functions 
available.  
        In relation to robotics, I've been toying with using it as an 
textual interface to control devices, such that you can send a high-level 
command such as "20 steps-right" (steps-right being a pre-programmed FORTH 
command) over a serial port to your board, to run a stepper motor.  Using this 
type of interface, you can write complex control functions in C, for example, 
(running on an IBM), with the board handling all the I/O, timing, etc.  Or 
alternatively, you can use it to test devices and functions by using a comm. 
program to talk to FORTH directly.

Larry Battraw


