--- gforth/README 1995/02/09 17:49:52 1.5 +++ gforth/README 1997/03/27 15:23:58 1.22 @@ -1,21 +1,42 @@ -This is the current state (alpha) of gforth. This is not a -distribution for the general public, since it is not yet mature -enough. There is no warranty of any kind; this program is -distributed under the GNU General Public license (see COPYING). - -Read INSTALL for installation instructions. Mail us if you have -problems. - -To start the system just say `gforth'. This gives you a pretty barren -system. `gforth startup.fs' gives you most ANSI wordsets. If you miss -a word, just grep for it in *.fs. +Gforth is a fast and portable implementation of the ANS Forth +language. It works nicely with the Emacs editor, offers some nice +features such as input completion and history and a powerful locals +facility, and it even has (the beginnings of) a manual. Gforth employs +traditional implementation techniques: its inner innerpreter is +indirect or direct threaded. Gforth is distributed under the GNU +General Public license (see COPYING). + +Gforth runs under Unix and DOS and should not be hard to port to other +systems supported by GCC. This version has been tested successfully on +the following platforms: i486-unknown-linuxaout, mips-dec-ultrix4.3, +sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4, alpha-dec-osf3.2. + +i486-unknown-linuxaout, i586-unknown-linux, +alpha-dec-osf3.2, mips-dec-ultrix4.3, sparc-sun-sunos4.1.4, +sparc-unknown-netbsd1.2 (configured with ac_cv_sizeof_long_long=0, see +INSTALL), hppa1.1-hp-hpux9.05, hppa1.1-hp-hpux10.20, Windows 95 using +DJGPP 2.0, and OS/2 3.0 using EMX 0.9c, the latter with manual help +to finish compilation. + +Read INSTALL for installation instructions, or INSTALL.DOS for DOS and +OS/2. Mail bug-gforth@gnu.ai.mit.edu if you have problems. To start +the system, just say `gforth' (after installing it). + +You can find new versions of Gforth at prep.ai.mit.edu and its mirrors +or at + +http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/forth/gforth/ +or +ftp://ftp.complang.tuwien.ac.at/pub/forth/gforth/ -If you want to work on gforth, mail me. Tasks to be done can be found +The latter site contains binary distributions of Gforth for some +popular platforms. + +If you want to work on Gforth, mail me. Tasks to be done can be found in ToDo; but if you would like to do something not mentioned there, it's ok, too. In any case, we would like to hear what you are -doing. The most important tasks IMO are the missing ANS Forth words -(musts before the alpha release), the documentation and the foreign -language interface for C. +doing. The most important tasks IMO are the missing ANS Forth words, +the documentation and the foreign language interface for C. On popular request, here are the meanings of unusual file extensions: @@ -26,4 +47,31 @@ On popular request, here are the meaning *.ds documenation source *TAGS etags files +A number of Forth source files are included in this package that are +not necessary for building Gforth. Not all of them are mentioned in +the rest of the documentation, so here's a short overview: + +Add-ons: +code.fs random.fs more.fs ansi.fs colorize.fs +oof.fs oofsampl.fs objects.fs + +Utilities: +ans-report.fs etags.fs glosgen.fs filedump.fs + +Games: +tt.fs sokoban.fs + +Test programs (for testing Forth systems): +tester.fs coretest.fs postponetest.fs dbltest.fs +checkans.fs wordsets.fs + +Benchmarks: +bubble.fs siev.fs matrix.fs fib.fs sieve.fs + +ANS Forth implementations of Gforth extensions: +compat/*.fs other.fs + + - anton +anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at +http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/home.html