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Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly?

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On Wed, 18 May 2016 11:31:46 -0700 (PDT)
Darin Murphy <murphy.darin@gmail.com> wrote:

> One thing that had repeatedly popped up was that forth and C where
> not very [compatible] with each other.

Versions of Unix-Forth for PDP-11 and VAX were posted to net.sources in
1984 and are coded in C and Forth.  So, that would be just a few years
after the release of the first fig-Forth in 1980 for the 6502 which was
coded in assembly.

As to why C was used here, my personal guess would be two-fold.  The
author probably knew how to code in C on mainframes.  Assembly on
mainframes is generally not that well known.  I.e., there is a
preference for programming in high-level languages on mainframes
instead of assembly.

Most implementations of Forth in C use a switch() statement instead of
implementing an actual interpreter using threaded code (ITC, DTC).

> From what I've read about Mr. Moores forth, eforth, etc, was that
> only a small group of primatives need be written and forth would
> evolve from those primatives.

Yes, the C.H. Ting variant of Bill Muench's eForth was coded in Forth
using only 36 primitives.  The remainder is in high-level Forth.  This
was considered to be the first Forth to use this method.  Before that,
most Forths were coded entirely in assembly.  Charles Moore has stated
that he considered 60 to 63 primitives to be the essence of Forth, but
I've never found out as to which.

Since the C.H. Ting eForth, there have been many other Forths using
this method, and they use from 13 to 72 primitives.  Ms. Rather prefers
the term low-level words instead of primitives, since the other words
will be coded in high-level Forth words when using this method to
implement Forth.


Rod Pemberton

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Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Darin Murphy <murphy.darin@gmail.com> - 2016-05-18 11:31 -0700
  Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? visualforth@rocketmail.com - 2016-05-18 13:11 -0700
  Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2016-05-18 12:42 -1000
  Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-05-18 20:38 -0400
    Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2016-05-18 18:00 -1000
    Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? pahihu <pahihu@gmail.com> - 2016-05-19 01:00 -0700
      Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-05-19 19:14 -0400
        Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2016-05-19 14:44 -1000
    Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Albert van der Horst <albert@cherry.spenarnc.xs4all.nl> - 2016-05-19 13:28 +0000
    Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2016-05-19 11:29 -0700
  Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2016-05-18 17:56 -0700
    Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Darin Murphy <murphy.darin@gmail.com> - 2016-05-18 19:26 -0700
      Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2016-05-18 20:16 -0700
      Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2016-05-18 17:51 -1000
        Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2016-05-18 20:54 -0700
        Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? JUERGEN <epldfpga@aol.com> - 2016-05-20 10:49 -0700
      Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? humptydumpty <ouatubi@gmail.com> - 2016-05-19 01:59 -0700
        Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Darin Murphy <murphy.darin@gmail.com> - 2016-05-19 12:04 -0700
      Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Albert van der Horst <albert@cherry.spenarnc.xs4all.nl> - 2016-05-19 13:58 +0000
        Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-19 15:07 +0000
          Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Ron Aaron <rambamist@gmail.com> - 2016-05-19 19:21 +0300
            Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-20 12:44 +0000
              Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Ron Aaron <rambamist@gmail.com> - 2016-05-20 16:14 +0300
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Lars Brinkhoff <lars.spam@nocrew.org> - 2016-05-20 15:28 +0200
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? stephen@mpeforth.com (Stephen Pelc) - 2016-05-20 13:50 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Raimond Dragomir <raimond.dragomir@gmail.com> - 2016-05-20 07:31 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2016-05-20 08:39 -1000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2016-05-21 18:04 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forthlanguages and not assembly? "WJ" <w_a_x_man@yahoo.com> - 2016-05-23 14:04 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? stephen@mpeforth.com (Stephen Pelc) - 2016-05-20 20:48 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2016-05-22 20:38 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Ron Aaron <rambamist@gmail.com> - 2016-05-23 07:03 +0300
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2016-05-22 21:22 -1000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2016-05-23 23:21 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? stephen@mpeforth.com (Stephen Pelc) - 2016-05-24 09:36 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? foxaudioresearch@gmail.com - 2016-05-24 08:02 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-24 15:34 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2016-05-25 05:43 -0500
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-25 13:43 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2016-05-24 09:40 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2016-05-24 10:09 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? stephen@mpeforth.com (Stephen Pelc) - 2016-05-24 20:24 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2016-05-24 14:32 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? stephen@mpeforth.com (Stephen Pelc) - 2016-05-25 09:34 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2016-05-25 09:52 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-26 10:02 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? hughaguilar96@gmail.com - 2016-05-26 10:19 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? "WJ" <w_a_x_man@yahoo.com> - 2016-05-25 01:18 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2016-05-22 21:15 -1000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2016-05-20 09:47 -0500
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-20 15:02 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Andrew Haley <andrew29@littlepinkcloud.invalid> - 2016-05-20 11:42 -0500
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-20 16:52 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2016-05-20 10:07 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-20 17:12 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2016-05-20 10:25 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-20 17:41 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2016-05-20 11:12 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-21 05:33 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Lars Brinkhoff <lars.spam@nocrew.org> - 2016-05-20 21:13 +0200
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2016-05-20 15:24 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2016-05-20 09:45 -0700
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Bernd Paysan <bernd.paysan@gmx.de> - 2016-06-02 01:01 +0000
                Native Gforth Lars Brinkhoff <lars.spam@nocrew.org> - 2016-06-02 08:37 +0200
                Re: Native Gforth anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-06-02 12:54 +0000
                Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-06-02 12:34 +0000
          Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Albert van der Horst <albert@cherry.spenarnc.xs4all.nl> - 2016-05-19 18:35 +0000
            Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Darin Murphy <murphy.darin@gmail.com> - 2016-05-19 12:07 -0700
            Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-20 12:48 +0000
          Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? "Elizabeth D. Rather" <erather@forth.com> - 2016-05-19 10:33 -1000
  Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Ron Aaron <rambamist@gmail.com> - 2016-05-19 07:04 +0300
    Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Roelf Toxopeus <rt4all@notthis.hetnet.nl> - 2016-05-19 08:09 +0200
  Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-19 07:43 +0000
    Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2016-05-19 08:13 +0000
      Re: Was just wondering when people started using C to write forth languages and not assembly? Darin Murphy <murphy.darin@gmail.com> - 2016-05-20 22:27 -0400

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