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In the very early years of home computers - 1982 you could buy the Jupiter Ace which ran FORTH instead of BASIC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Ace https

In the very early years of home computers - 1982 you could buy the Jupiter Ace which ran FORTH instead of BASIC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Ace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Ace

pedrow 5y ago
Also around that era was a game-programming system called White Lightning for ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. It was very clever but I found it quite hard to use because of the block-based editor. It was not a great fit for computers using cassette tapes for storage. http://www.forth.org/lightning.html http://www.forth.org/lightning.html
rwmj 5y ago
ARTIC FORTH for the ZX81 came out around the same time. http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/Forth http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/Forth
mhd 5y ago
The game Starflight (1986) was also written in Forth. The only game of that complexity I'm aware of where this was the programming language of choice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starflight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starflight
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  Does anyone know if this is the reason for Starflight's madding save system[0]? I can't think of a technical reason it would need to work that way, but it is an exceptionally rare way to do things so I'm forced to wonder if the use of forth is partly responsible. [0] Starflight self-modifies as it runs, meaning the executable itself is re-written with the game state baked in. If the game exits without saving in the approved way the executable is broken.
  - lebuffon 5y ago
    I have no inside information on Starflight but this is typical of Forth systems. They are an image structured environment. Unless you build your own data structures that are external to Forth's memory image, called a dictionary, everything exists in that chunk of memory. Variables and arrays etc. exist where they are declared in the code sequence. So to save the game they opted apparently to just save the system image. It was the simple way out IMHO. It's trivial to create separate data area and write that out to a file in Forth.
- timbit42 5y ago
  Another game written in Forth, on the Atari 800, is Worms? by Electronic Arts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms%3F Recent interview where the author, David Maynard, discusses writing Worms? in Forth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIn4ndkcAU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIn4ndkcAU
dcminter 5y ago
By the by I happened to notice one for sale on tradera today: https://www.tradera.com/item/340854/463207712/jupiter-ace-computer-vintage-1983-rare https://www.tradera.com/item/340854/463207712/jupiter-ace-co...
- jdmoreira 5y ago
  I see we both visit the retro computing section of Tradera on a regular basis. It was way too expensive for me that one
timbit42 5y ago
Two other (related) systems with Forth in ROM were produced by Micronique in France: Hector HRX (1983) https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=142 https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=142 Hector MX (1985) https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=169 https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=169 The Hector MX also had BASIC and LOGO in ROM.

In the very early years of home computers - 1982 you could buy the Jupiter Ace which ran FORTH instead of BASIC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Ace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Ace

pedrow 5y ago

Also around that era was a game-programming system called White Lightning for ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. It was very clever but I found it quite hard to use because of the block-based editor. It was not a great fit for computers using cassette tapes for storage. http://www.forth.org/lightning.html http://www.forth.org/lightning.html

rwmj 5y ago

ARTIC FORTH for the ZX81 came out around the same time. http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/Forth http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/Forth

mhd 5y ago

The game Starflight (1986) was also written in Forth. The only game of that complexity I'm aware of where this was the programming language of choice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starflight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starflight

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
Does anyone know if this is the reason for Starflight's madding save system[0]? I can't think of a technical reason it would need to work that way, but it is an exceptionally rare way to do things so I'm forced to wonder if the use of forth is partly responsible. [0] Starflight self-modifies as it runs, meaning the executable itself is re-written with the game state baked in. If the game exits without saving in the approved way the executable is broken.
- lebuffon 5y ago
  I have no inside information on Starflight but this is typical of Forth systems. They are an image structured environment. Unless you build your own data structures that are external to Forth's memory image, called a dictionary, everything exists in that chunk of memory. Variables and arrays etc. exist where they are declared in the code sequence. So to save the game they opted apparently to just save the system image. It was the simple way out IMHO. It's trivial to create separate data area and write that out to a file in Forth.
timbit42 5y ago
Another game written in Forth, on the Atari 800, is Worms? by Electronic Arts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worms%3F Recent interview where the author, David Maynard, discusses writing Worms? in Forth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIn4ndkcAU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIn4ndkcAU

dcminter 5y ago

By the by I happened to notice one for sale on tradera today: https://www.tradera.com/item/340854/463207712/jupiter-ace-computer-vintage-1983-rare https://www.tradera.com/item/340854/463207712/jupiter-ace-co...

jdmoreira 5y ago
I see we both visit the retro computing section of Tradera on a regular basis. It was way too expensive for me that one

timbit42 5y ago

Two other (related) systems with Forth in ROM were produced by Micronique in France: Hector HRX (1983) https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=142 https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=142 Hector MX (1985) https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=169 https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=169 The Hector MX also had BASIC and LOGO in ROM.