Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!pacbell!ames!haven!uvaarpa!hudson!vivaldi!pmy
From: pmy@vivaldi.acc.virginia.edu (Pete Yadlowsky)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Forth & Prolog wanted
Message-ID: <1006@hudson.acc.virginia.edu>
Date: 11 Jan 89 16:42:34 GMT
References: <1819@abo.fi>
Sender: news@hudson.acc.virginia.edu
Reply-To: pmy@vivaldi.acc.Virginia.EDU.acc.Virginia.EDU (Pete Yadlowsky)
Organization: University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Lines: 62

In article <1819@abo.fi> rosenbergr@abo.fi (Robin Rosenberg) writes:

>Could someone give me som information about Forth's for the Amiga.
>I heard JForth is available, but I have no information about it.
>	1. Is it native 16/32-bit?

32 bit.

>	2. Does it compile  to machinecode?

Yes.

>	3. Does it have access to ALL amiga libraries?

Yes. It's also easy to provide hooks for new libraries as they come
along. I've been using the public domain midi.library quite a bit
from JForth lately.

>	4. What is included?

Assembler, of course. Also, disassembler, C-structure support, include
file conversion (.h to .j), object-oriented development environment
and a very large number of useful tools that support graphics, Intuition,
file I/O, IFF and a zillion other things.

JForth does not use the traditional "screen" file system, though there's
a sub-system provided for that, too, if you want it. Instead, it uses
the Amiga's own native file system, like any other application. Compose
in your favorite text editor, and load into JForth by filename.

>	5. Anything else of value?

Yes. JForth v2.0 ("JForth Professional") is about to be released. I've
been beta-ing it. Probably the most important feature of this new
version is CLONE, a target compiler. A programmer who wants to compile
a JForth application passes CLONE the name of the word which serves
as the application's entry point. CLONE then rips down through the
dictionary, extracting code called by the application and removing
dictionary headers to produce a stand-alone executable image, with
command line parsing, of course. "hello world" compiles into about
2800 bytes.
Another important feature is the "module", a construct which allows
large chunks of forth code to be linked into (and unlinked from) the
interpreter's search path without taking up dictionary space.
Amiga 'includes' and the assembler are two such modules.

>	6. $$$?

About $90US for the current version, $150 for JForth 2.0, I think.

>Is there a Prolog compiler/interpreter with access to amiga libraries that
>will run in 1 Meg ?. 

Sorry, don't know about Prolog.

disclaimer: I'm not affiliated the Delta Research (makers of JForth),
except as a very satisfied customer and unpaid beta-tester.

Peter M. Yadlowsky
Academic Computing Center
University of Virginia
pmy@vivaldi.acc.Virginia.EDU