
Try Forth - grifaton
http://forthfreak.net/jsforth80x25.html
======
paulsnx2
Ah brings back the days! Once upon a time I did most of my programming in a
Forth like language we called "Fifth".

Eclipse today is almost bringing Java development to the point that it is sort
of as productive as the Environment we built for Forth that ran on 20 Mhz PCs
with 16 Megs of memory.

Almost.

What did we have?

Lazy compilation (functions compiled as needed rather than making us wait for
a full compile) which doesn't exist today for Java, unless you count JIT
(which honestly is a different concept).

Hot code replacement (that worked every time rather than the "sometimes works"
with Eclipse).

Immediate functions for implementing all sorts of functionality
algorithmically at compile time instead of writing code generators and
initialization functions.

Instant initialization (a side effect of Immediate functions). Our Postscript
Interpreter booted in milliseconds on a 16 Mhz 68000 as compared to the 1 or 2
minutes for the Apple Lazerwriter.

Hot key navigation -- Eclipse is about on par.

Online help -- Eclipse has a bit nicer interface, but ours was pretty near
"Wiki Easy" to develop and extend and available on a key stroke.

Graphical interfaces and windows, Syntax completion, Syntax highlighting...
All ideas that came later. All we had was character graphics, but we did great
stuff with that.

Anyway, Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I miss programming right against
the metal, but I also don't miss it too!

~~~
makmanalp
I would love to have more information about this... Who made it? Do you still
have the sources / docs?

~~~
x64eva
I cannot find any references on the Internet to any programming language
called "Fifth", aside from [1].

    
    
      The FIFTH programming language is one of John U. Sussman's joke languages published in InfoWorld and, later, to several USENET groups. It is a parody of Forth, a stack-based programming language.
    
      The original description by Sussman is: FIFTH ... FIFTH is a precision mathematical language in which the data types refer to quantity. The data types range from CC, OUNCE, SHOT, and JIGGER to FIFTH (hence the name of the language), LITER, MAGNUM, and BLOTTO. Commands refer to in- gredients such as CHABLIS, CHARDONNAY, CABERNET, GIN, VERMOUTH, VODKA, SCOTCH and WHATEVERSAROUND.
    
      The many versions of the FIFTH language reflect the sophisti- cation and financial status of its users. Commands in the ELITE dialect include VSOP and LAFITE, while commands in the GUTTER di- alect include HOOTCH and RIPPLE. The latter is a favorite of frustrated FORTH programmers who end up using the language
    
    

However...

    
    
      In the 1980s, Kriya Systems developed and sold an object oriented Forth-like programming language which was initially announced as FIFTH. FIFTH never appeared on the market, but Kriya Systems did launch an object oriented Forth variant, named NEON. FIFTH is also the name of a Forth-based programming environment, described by Cliff Click and Paul Snow at the 1986 Rochester Forth Conference.
    
    

I found references to the Rochester Forth Conference variant @[2] as well as
Neon@[3]. Wonder which one is it...

[1][http://www.articleworld.org/index.php/FIFTH_programming_lang...](http://www.articleworld.org/index.php/FIFTH_programming_language)

[2]<http://www.forth.org/bournemouth/jfar/vol4/no2/article14.pdf>

[3]<http://drdobbs.com/184409686> (under the "Cheapo Neon" header)

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pietrofmaggi
If someone is looking for a great forth tutorial/book, one of the best is
"Thinking Forth" by Brodie. Now available as an open project:
<http://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net/>

~~~
Estragon
This book was a constant companion of mine when I was a teenager. Damn, I
loved forth.

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sgt
Cool stuff. Great for learning Forth. I'm thinking of programming a custom
forth for a particular microcontroller I got my hands on.

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keenerd
If you want an even more portable Forth environment, check out Amforth
(<http://amforth.sourceforge.net/>) or Fignition
(<http://sites.google.com/site/libby8dev/fignition>).

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colomon
Errr... what's the word for printing the top of the stack? Or some way of
getting a result back out?

~~~
Someone
. It does drop the top of the stack, too, though.

So, to compute and print 1001, do:

7 11 13 * * .

Also useful: .s non-destructively prints the stack (as does .S ; this forth
does appear to be case-insensitive)

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xradionut
Once you've tried one version of Forth, you've tried one version of Forth. :)

Seriously, last time I used Forth was using a New Micros board that ran
IsoMax, a great language for state machines.

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res0nat0r
Always wanted to try this out:

[http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=53&id=9](http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=53&id=9)

