4 ms·
The real special sauce for Forth is that it's small and it's knowable. Anyone who wants to learn about how elegant a computer system can be should take a look
by zeveb 9y ago
The real special sauce for Forth is that it's small and it's knowable. Anyone who wants to learn about how elegant a computer system can be should take a look at jonesforth[0], a Forth implemented in x86 assembly language. It really is possible for a programmer to easily understand everything a Forth does, which is wonderful when writing a bootloader or low-level OS.
In a lot of ways, it's a more-structured assembly language.
TCL could be cool for a low-level system too, as could be a Lisp (also: how can anyone hate Lisp with a passion‽‽‽), as of course could be Forth. Perl & Python are too big and not minimal enough.
0: https://github.com/nornagon/jonesforth/blob/master/jonesforth.S https://github.com/nornagon/jonesforth/blob/master/jonesfort...
- luckydude 9y agoI tried to like lisp, it just doesn't fit with my brain, dunno why. I tried to like emacs and it doesn't fit either. I'm a C/sh/vi sort of guy. I like troff, don't care for LaTex. Some stuff just works better for me, working in C comes very naturally to me, working in lisp was always a struggle. I think if I had done more compiler work I'd like lisp better, I've been told that making an AST in lisp is trivial and it is work in C. I get your point about small and knowable, I love stuff like that.
- kazinator 9y agoMuch larger things are perfectly knowable; you just need a more capacious noodle.