Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!bionet!ig!ames!pacbell!well!jax
From: jax@well.UUCP (Jack J. Woehr)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: 32-Bit FORTH
Summary: Reverse Engineering Circular Locomotion Module
Keywords: cforth, cforth83, ansi, forth-83
Message-ID: <12396@well.UUCP>
Date: 25 Jun 89 22:08:39 GMT
References: <865@pcsbst.UUCP>
Reply-To: jax@well.UUCP (Jack J. Woehr)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 54

In article <865@pcsbst.UUCP> rht32!hgw@pcsbst.UUCP () writes:

... stuf ...

>It turned out, that CFORTH is a 16-bit forth, i.e. integers
>ar 16 bit wide and characters are stored one per word,
>leaving one character per word free.

	This must be Pratt's CFORTH, no?

... stuff ... author wants 32-banger Forth ...

>o  Does a 32-bit FORTH imply that a 16-bit data type is not
>   available?
>

	Not really, what most people have done is make @ and !
do 32-bits, make the stack 32 bits, and add words like W@ and W!
for 16-bits, on the analogy of C@ and C!. It depends on your architecture.

>o  How are 16-bit loads & stores implemented?
>   (perhaps S! and S@ ?!)
>
	see above.

>o  How are character strings stored in memory?
>   (4 characters per word, or 1 character and 3 chars free)
>

	again, depends on your architecture. Usually 4 chars per 32 bits.
of course, 8-bits-per-char in general is becoming passee, since *REAL*
computer systems had better be able to handle japanese 16-bit chars.

>
>o  Is there any standard for 32-bit FORTHS out there?
>

	No. The 83-STANDARD was 16-bit. Generally 32-bit Forths
try to stick as close to the 83-STANDARD as possible while anticipating
the coming ANSI Standard, which will be divorced from cell size.

	Why not get the shareware CForth83 from Mitch Bradley, for
Unix machines of all sizes? Bradley Forthware is P.O. Box 4444,
Mountain View, CA 94040, USA or wmb@sun.com

	If you have an Amiga, try JForth, a JSR-Threaded 32-bit Forth.

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