Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watcgl!mimperat
From: mimperat@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Marco Imperatore)
Subject: RFC -- Writing an operating system using Forth.
Message-ID: <1991Apr17.201050.26764@watcgl.waterloo.edu>
Keywords: Operating system, Forth
Organization: Computer Graphics Laboratory, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1991 20:10:50 GMT
Lines: 25

Greetings.

I would be interested in finding out if anyone has thought about writing
an operating system in Forth, or if such systems has already been created.
Furthermore, I was wondering if anyone could give me a hypothesis (or relate
an experience) as to whether C is preferable to Forth for such a purpose.

I have very limited experience with Forth but I have LOTS with C.  The little
I know of Forth leads me to believe that it would be a lot harder to write
an OS using Forth and that the resulting product would not be as efficient
or portable.  Can anyone convice me otherwise?  If possible, please provide
extremely simple code examples in your explanation.

The reason I am asking these questions is because I am in the process of
designing a Unix-like distributed OS for 386-based machines and I am
investigating likely possibilities for OS implementation languages.

I will keep reading this newgroup for any followup articles.  If you wish
to reply directly to me, please use the address in my 'signature' below.

Thanks.
-- 
Marco Imperatore
Computer Graphics Lab, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
mimperatore@watcgl.waterloo.edu