MVP-FORTH is a well documented public domain implementation of FORTH
which has remained stable since early 1982. The run time file, FORTH.COM, all
of the standard 8088/8086 assembler source code for the kernel, and the FORTH
source screens which have been compiled on top of the MVP-FORTH kernel are
included in the ARCed file MVPFORTH.ARC.
These files are what Mountain View Press includes in the disks with
the MVP-FORTH Programmer's Kit. I will provide support for those who buy
the disks from them or make a contribution to me which will register you as a
ShareWare user. Otherwise you are on your own. All of the source is
included but you have to know how to use it.
It is recommended that you get the following documentation:
All About FORTH, 2nd Edition, by Glen B. Haydon -- A glossary of all
FORTH function including other dialects which were in common usage when the
book was published.
MVP-FORTH Assembly Source Code, by Glen B. Haydon and Robert Kuntz --
The assembley source listing for the MVP-FORTH kernel in 8080, 8088/86 and
6502 language assemblers.
FORTH GUIDE, by Glen B. Haydon -- A guide for novice beginners and
intermediate users based on two years of teaching a weekly seminair. The
experts may even pick up a few pearls.
Starting FORTH, by Leo Brodie -- The first and one of the classic
tutorials for FORTH. MVP-FORTH has added supplemental functions to cover
those used in this book. There are only a couple of slight differences which
could not be implemented - see All About FORTH
The Complete FORTH, by Allan Winfield -- A second complete tutorial
for FORTH. It too goes well with MVP-FORTH.
In addition to these books, a series of nine Volumes include a public
domain quad precision and floating point implementation, an expert system, an
elaborate file management system, a full word processor, and the Professional
Applications Development System known as PADS. These and many other
publications on FORTH are available from THE FORTH SOURCE, Mountain View
Press. Contact them for more materials.
As with all versions of MVP-FORTH on BBS systems, this implementation
has defined two words FILE>SCREENS and SCREENS>FILE, along with the necessary
primitives. These make it possible to ARC the source screens, for
distribution and to reconstitute a FORTH SCREENS disk as distributed by
Mountain View Press.
The file, SCREENS.MVP, when deARCed, yields a file of 140 compressed
FORTH SCREENS. They can be decompressed and loaded onto a freshly formatted
floppy disk. You are prompted for the necessary information as required.
Because of the power of FORTH, you can easily crash you system. Do
not diapair. At first, use a single floppy drive to get familiar with what
you are doing.
You will not need the FORTH SCREENS containing the source code. It
has all been compiled in to FORTH.COM. I suggest that you start with a
scratch FORTH SCREENS disk in Drive A, known to FORTH as DR0. Keep a separate
FORTH SCREENS disk and FORTH FILES disk. When you use SAVE-FORTH, put the
FORTH FILES disk in Drive A. Otherwise, keep the FORTH SCREENS disk in Drive
A.
At the very beginning deARC MVP-FORTH to a floppy disk on drive A.
Load the program FORTH.COM. (You can return to the system with BYE - upper
case.) Enter the function FILE>SCREENS. The file you want at the prompt is: A:SCREENS.MVP. Then before entering the beginning screen number, remove the
DOS disk from Drive A, and insert a freshly formatted and labeled FORTH
SCREENS disk. Now enter the beginning screen number as 10. The screens will
be written to the FORTH SCREENS disk. The new code with which this is done is
now on Screens 130 through 138. After you learn some FORTH you might be
interested in seeing how this is done.
After you are familiar with what you are doing, you can move the file
FORTH.COM to any location you wish. I would still keep my FORTH Screens on a
floppy disk in Drive A, until you are further along. Then a number of other
ways of using the system will become obvious.
There are many ways you can use FORTH and other programs on the same
computer without getting into trouble. I partition the top 2 megabytes of a
10 meg hard disk for FORTH SCREENS. My only concern is that I do not let the
other program files get larger that 8 megs of space. In another system I have
a separate partition of a hard disk exclusively for FORTH SCREENS. In still
other systems, I can access FORTH SCREENS as random records in DOS files. But
these techniques are more advanced. I will try to clean up the various
techniques I use and put them on BBSs as time allows.
FORTH is the most powerful programming language I know.
The user is responsible for the use of all of that power.
FORTH originated as a simplified operating system.
FORTH grew to emulate a simple necessary and sufficient processor.
