Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!texbell!sugar!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: Implementation dependence
Message-ID: <5753@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 17 Aug 89 14:47:03 GMT
References: <8908161813.AA12808@jade.berkeley.edu>
Organization: Xenix Support, FICC
Lines: 26

In article <8908161813.AA12808@jade.berkeley.edu>, wmb@SUN.COM (Mitch Bradley) writes:
> I would claim that the "Forth Virtual Machine", as implied by FIG Forth
> or Forth 79 or Forth 83 or whatever standard you choose, has the following
> properties.

Forth 79 or Forth 83, yes, but...

> * 16-bit stack width
> * Byte addressing with no alignment restrictions

	Fig-forth ran just fine on the PDP-11 and HP1000 with
	alignment restrictions in place. You just had to use
	=CELLS on occasion.

> * twos-complement arithmetic

	Maybe.

> * ASCII character set
> * threaded code

-- 
Peter da Silva, *NIX support guy @ Ferranti International Controls Corporation.
Biz: peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180. Fun: peter@sugar.hackercorp.com. `-_-'
"Optimization is not some mystical state of grace, it is an intricate act   U
   of human labor which carries real costs and real risks." -- Tom Neff