Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!microsoft!kevinbe
From: kevinbe@microsoft.UUCP (Kevin Berg)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: 32-Bit FORTH
Summary: ANS X3J14, others
Message-ID: <6178@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 26 Jun 89 20:38:29 GMT
References: <865@pcsbst.UUCP>
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 40

In article <865@pcsbst.UUCP>, hgw@pcsbst.UUCP (hgw) writes:
[re: CFORTH 16 to 32 bit mods ...]
> Since I am not familiar with 32-bit FORTHS, I have some
> questions:
> 
> o  Does a 32-bit FORTH imply that a 16-bit data type is not
>    available?
> 
> o  How are 16-bit loads & stores implemented?
>    (perhaps S! and S@ ?!)

	Answers here may vary a bit, but W! W@ and W, are fairly common.
	You might check out the latest ZEN Forth by Martin Tracy, which
	is a working model (not endorsed) of the ANS X3J14 Forth std.
	It uses "CELL" in a number of instances (CELL+, CELLS). I did not
	see mention of how 1/2 CELLS are handled (say if CELL was 32 bits),
	but perhaps I'm reading it wrong.

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

	MACH2 uses 4 characters per word. This becomes handy when interfacing
	to the Mac routines which use Str255 (Pascal type) strings.

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

	Dare I answer this? I like and use MACH2 on the Mac. JForth for the
	Amiga sounds excellent. If you're on a Sun Mitch Bradly's Forth sounds
	like the best solution. From what I know, each of these has special
	ways of dealing with the host environment and this usually bleeds over
	into the Forth implementation. I think the Forth community is working
	on the standards bit, and perhaps your input could help shape the
	very things you ask about. 


Chow. - k