Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!willett!ForthNet
From: ForthNet@willett.UUCP (ForthNet articles from GEnie)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Category 1,  Topic 2
Message-ID: <96.UUL1.3#5129@willett.UUCP>
Date: 4 Jan 90 21:06:17 GMT
Organization: Latest Link in ForthNet Chain
Lines: 39

Category 1,  Topic 2
Message 14        Sat Dec 30, 1989
F.SERGEANT [Frank]           at 15:43 CST

 To Ben Combee

  I'm glad you asked.  First, I do not know what the best PD Forth is.  They
are different and serve different purposes and, like shoes, what fits one
person well may be uncomfortable for someone else.

  Second, F83 from 1984 IS a good Forth.  I highly recommend it. Especially if
available on a local BBS, it might be the best deal for the money.  There are
some variants I've heard about but not seen that are probably even better (but
F83 still deserves a thank you, I think, from all of us for inspiring the
variants).

  I've also heard F-PC is very good.  It is also VERY large, which might be a
problem, especially if you do not have a hard disk. Philosophically, I am not
happy with the idea of a very large Forth. I'm still working through this and
may clarify my thinking someday to the point where I will be happy with it.

   In the meantime, I have put together Pygmy Forth.  It is not PD but it is
freely available.  I am about to upload the latest version, v1.2, to GEnie. 
The entire system includes PYGMY.COM with fast full-screen editor, assembler,
meta-compiler, and ability to have up to 15 files open simultaneously.  Full
source code and documentation for all the above is included, as well as a
Starting Forth compatibility file. Pygmy Forth is based loosely on cmFORTH. 
The entire package fits in a less than 75K byte archive file!  Unarchived, all
the files fit comfortably on a 360K floppy.  If you have a limited system,
this might be worth considering.  It should be available here on GEnie in the
next week or so and eventually on other BBSs.  As usual, if anyone finds it
inconvenient to download he may send me some money (809 W. San Antonio St.,
San Marcos, TX 78666) and I'll send the latest version on a 5-1/4" 360K
floppy.

  -- Frank
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