Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!uwvax!cat!bolo
From: bolo@cat.CS.WISC.EDU (Joe Burger)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: ans forth number types
Message-ID: <10944@spool.cs.wisc.edu>
Date: 2 Aug 90 16:29:21 GMT
Sender: news@spool.cs.wisc.edu
Reply-To: bolo@cat.cs.wisc.edu (Joe Burger)
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 33



I've been following the ans-forth discussion, but was wondering
about ....

What provisions does ans-forth provide for different length stack data
types?

I know about cell/cells/cell+, ... for making the "size" of a 
normal-length "cell" portable, but what about the different
number types?

For example, forth-83 has single and double length
numbers, corresponding to 16 and 32 bit lengths
on most 8bit forths.

As another example, Mitch Bradley has a "type" system which
explicitly specifies the number of bits that a type has, 
and makes a distinction between a double number which just
2 normal sized stack entries,  and a 32 bit arithmetic quantity
known as a long.   There are words to store and fetch quantities
of each size, and mixed-mode words for stack manipulations
of different sized objects (ex:  nlswap to swap normal and a 
long stack item  ( n l -- l n).

So, what approach does ans-forth take?  

thanks
bolo ... aka Joe Burger  University of Wisconsin-Madison   Computer Systems Lab
internet: bolo@cs.wisc.edu	uucp: {backbone}!uwvax!bolo	

bolo ... aka Joe Burger  University of Wisconsin-Madison   Computer Systems Lab
internet: bolo@cs.wisc.edu	uucp: {backbone}!uwvax!bolo