Everyone should try FORTH. I am unaware of the exact ratio, but a certain percentage of those who try it will like it, and the rest will hate it. There seems to be no middle ground. I recently read (I don’t remember where a statement of the number of active FORTH programmers which indicated that a rather exclusive society exists when compared to active programmers in almost any other computer language.
The fact is, FORTH systems are available for everything from the Timex-Sinclair machines on up to the top of the price scale. In addition to two new packages for the TS 2068, “FORTH” for the T/S 1000 has been available for quite some time. HAWG WILD SOFTWARE (P.O.Box 7668, Little Rock, Arkansas 72217) introduced the program, and shortly thereafter began publication of “XFORTH EXCHANGE“. “XFORTH EXCHANGE” is a rather exclusive (and free) newsletter available ONLY to those who purchase any FORTH package form HAWG WILD. It is not available to others at any price.
“XFORTH” is a FORTH-79 sub-set, which has been adapted to utilize the Timex limited character set. The manual is rather sketchy for a beginner, but for an experienced FORTH programmer the only limitation is the available memory.
2068 FIG-FORTH is a much more elaborate “kernal” by E.A. Worden. It also includes a standard (16 line by 64 character per) “Editor” which is explained in a special section of the manual by Bill Stoddart of FIG, United Kingdom. I believe the user will find this FORTH to be much easier to master, using the recommended tutorial textbooks (Brodie, Scanlon, et al). A few nonstandard “words” already installed, such as “TAPE-SAVE”, “SCR-SAVE”, “SCR-LOAD”, and “BYE” (which returns one to Basic).
“ABERSOFT FORTH FOR TIMEX T-S 2068′ is another “FIG”, by John Jones-Steele. I found this particular FORTH to be quite fascinating, in that it contains a “RAM disc” scheme in anticipation of the projected “MICRO-DRIVES”. (Where are you, David H.?) It also contains major extensions that use familiar words such as “INK, “PAPER”, “PLOT”, “DRAW”, etc. “LINK” ties the screen and printer together so that anything input to the screen is also printed on the ZX printer. (I have not tried this one yet, if it works on the Timex printer it could be very useful In a FORTH communications program for downloads!) “UDG” (User Defined Graphics) is also included, with directions as to how to design special characters given in the manual.
Both of the 2068 FORTH programs described have the option for a “warm start” which will preserve any “words” the user has added to the vocabulary but not yet committed to tape or disk.
Both 2068 programs have very good user manuals, which I anticipate will be supplemented by future issues of HANG WILD SOFTWAREs “XFORTH XCHANGE”. And I would urge all users of these programs to utilize that medium, along with T-S HORIZONS, to share their experiences and “words” with all of us. (Editor’s Note: All the FORTH software mentioned above are available from Hawg Wild Software. See above for address.)