Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!amdahl!dlb!ardent!rap From: rap@ardent.UUCP (Rob Peck) Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth Subject: Re: Good book for beginner? Message-ID: <434@ardent.UUCP> Date: 25 Jul 88 19:10:56 GMT References: <10483@stb.UUCP> Organization: Dana Computer, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 40 In article <10483@stb.UUCP>, michael@stb.UUCP (Michael) writes: > What is a good forth book for a complete beginner to the language? Unquestionably, I recommend "Starting FORTH" by Leo Brodie. And for those who know something about FORTH in the first place, I can also recommend Brodie's "Thinking FORTH". In fact, with a background in FORTH, but normally using other languages, I found the second book to be kinda inspirational so to speak in my programming for other languages. Strange but true. There is a hardware design book by a fella named Thomas Blakeslee, named something like Designing Stuff Using Standard Integrated Circuits (obviously an incorrect title, but I know I got the author's name right) that had the same effect on me when I was doing hardware design. Sorta a flat-forehead maker if you know what I mean. Rob Peck ... just a side note ... Authors really appreciate fan response. Once, in my local area, Mr. Blakeslee happened to have been at an author's promotion tour for his (then) new book, "The Right Brain", at B. Dalton. I did not know he was there, and arrived at the Dalton store 15 minutes after he'd left. The store manager told me he overheard the pub crew talking about dinner in the shopping mall area. I zipped over to the nearest restaurant and just happened to find him, and, bubbling over with enthusiasm, I told him how much his earlier book had been an inspiration to me and so on. He gave me his business card and when I contacted him later to ask a question or two, he told me that his publisher was at the table with him when I showed up and it really impressed the publisher that he had such enthusiastic fan(s)... "it couldn't have worked out better for me if I had paid someone to do it". So if there is an author that you find interesting, they DO want to hear from you, if only to improve their "product" for future editions, or just a pat on the back where they "done good". (I, too, have had three books published and I really appreciate feedback, good or bad). (So what's this doing in comp.lang.forth anyway --- well, traffic is kinda slow here and FORTH itself has a way of changing how you think, so it seemed somehow related. ) rap