5 ms·

This is great! Forth is such an interesting language. Does anyone know of uses in industry?

rwmj 6y ago
Not sure if it counts as "industry" but FORTH-based Open Firmware is still used as a bootloader for some PowerPC machines. You can try this out under qemu: $ qemu-system-ppc64 VNC server running on ::1:5900 $ vncviewer :0 Ready! 0 > 1 2 3 * + . 7 ok 0 > WORDS (gigantic list of built-in words ...)
- exikyut 6y ago
  And FWIW Open Firmware runs on x86 too.
jonsen 6y ago
Third line of the introduction: “...is still used today for certain applications.” and is clickable.
guerrilla 6y ago
According to Wikipedia[1] it's used in astronomy and aerospace. It's also used in OpenFirmware like in old PowerPC Mac and IBM computers. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_(programming_language) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_(programming_language)
s-macke 6y ago
In the gaming industry. The game Starflight was written in Forth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starflight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starflight Ok, this is an ancient example. But still :-) The source code is partially available. Here one example. https://web.archive.org/web/20030906110447/http://www.sonic.net/~sage/sf/src/SOURCE-11-05-85/BANK_CMP.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20030906110447/http://www.sonic....
MaxBarraclough 6y ago
See: • https://www.forth.com/resources/who-uses-forth/ https://www.forth.com/resources/who-uses-forth/ • https://vfxforth.com/#customers https://vfxforth.com/#customers (Curiously this also turned up on another thread, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26165804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26165804 )
dastain 6y ago
You can install it on MCUs and use it to debug code pretty easily and makes it really nice to use reflection[1]. This use is not necessarily limited to enthusiasts, since nowadays even Arduino ends up in commercial products. While the language itself it's considered difficult to read by some, it's a great way to access MCUs features in a stack-based way and at a level higher than assembly. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvTI3KmcZ7I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvTI3KmcZ7I
lebuffon 6y ago
The Fedex handheld terminal was re-written in Forth... twice. :) First time all the features wouldn't fit. Forth re-write fit with room to spare. (factoring is easy in Forth) New Hardware! Everything fit but batteries didn't last a full shift. :( Forth with a proprietary tasker put the device to sleep at every opportunity. Problem solved.
- Jtsummers 6y ago
  > factoring is easy in Forth Even more than working in functional languages like SML, Forth (and RPL, my first stack language) taught me how to factor out code and remove/minimize duplication. It's just so obvious when using it where the duplication is, the hard part is coming up with decent names. But if a sequence of words can be given a good name, give it that name and define it.
joubert 6y ago
Space.
JadeNB 6y ago
Here's an HN post on Forth in space! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26164942 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26164942

rwmj 6y ago

Not sure if it counts as "industry" but FORTH-based Open Firmware is still used as a bootloader for some PowerPC machines. You can try this out under qemu: $ qemu-system-ppc64 VNC server running on ::1:5900 $ vncviewer :0 Ready! 0 > 1 2 3 * + . 7 ok 0 > WORDS (gigantic list of built-in words ...)

exikyut 6y ago
And FWIW Open Firmware runs on x86 too.

jonsen 6y ago

Third line of the introduction: “...is still used today for certain applications.” and is clickable.

guerrilla 6y ago

According to Wikipedia[1] it's used in astronomy and aerospace. It's also used in OpenFirmware like in old PowerPC Mac and IBM computers. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_(programming_language) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_(programming_language)

s-macke 6y ago

In the gaming industry. The game Starflight was written in Forth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starflight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starflight Ok, this is an ancient example. But still :-) The source code is partially available. Here one example. https://web.archive.org/web/20030906110447/http://www.sonic.net/~sage/sf/src/SOURCE-11-05-85/BANK_CMP.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20030906110447/http://www.sonic....

MaxBarraclough 6y ago

See: • https://www.forth.com/resources/who-uses-forth/ https://www.forth.com/resources/who-uses-forth/ • https://vfxforth.com/#customers https://vfxforth.com/#customers (Curiously this also turned up on another thread, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26165804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26165804 )

dastain 6y ago

You can install it on MCUs and use it to debug code pretty easily and makes it really nice to use reflection[1]. This use is not necessarily limited to enthusiasts, since nowadays even Arduino ends up in commercial products. While the language itself it's considered difficult to read by some, it's a great way to access MCUs features in a stack-based way and at a level higher than assembly. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvTI3KmcZ7I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvTI3KmcZ7I

lebuffon 6y ago

The Fedex handheld terminal was re-written in Forth... twice. :) First time all the features wouldn't fit. Forth re-write fit with room to spare. (factoring is easy in Forth) New Hardware! Everything fit but batteries didn't last a full shift. :( Forth with a proprietary tasker put the device to sleep at every opportunity. Problem solved.

Jtsummers 6y ago
> factoring is easy in Forth Even more than working in functional languages like SML, Forth (and RPL, my first stack language) taught me how to factor out code and remove/minimize duplication. It's just so obvious when using it where the duplication is, the hard part is coming up with decent names. But if a sequence of words can be given a good name, give it that name and define it.

joubert 6y ago

Space.

JadeNB 6y ago

Here's an HN post on Forth in space! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26164942 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26164942