The following is from BITNET: ----------------------------- Date: 17 Oct 86 22:25:58 GMT From: oliveb!amdahl!kim@titan.arc.nasa.gov (Kim DeVaughn) Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Subject: Re: FORTH for the Amiga (on JForth ... somewhat commercial) Sender: umforth%weizmann.bitnet@ucbvax.Berkeley.Edu [ "Send lawyers, guns, and money ..." ] Warning: If you don't like seeing Product Announcements on the net, hit your 'n' key now ... flames to /dev/null! The Delta Research people were at the BADGE meeting last night (10/16), and were demonstrating their "JForth" product. I'm not a "Forth person", so I can't really evaluate their product, but since there has been some discussion on the availability, etc. of various Forth's for the Amiga, I thought I'd go ahead and pass this along. The following is extracted from Delta Research's flyer on their JForth product. I've edited out most of the superlative adjectives that are typical in product flyers, and tried to extract the facts (as stated by Delta). Please do not consider this to be an endorsement of their product by me, or my employer. (Whew!) With that said ... vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv JForth vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv developed for the Amiga Completely interactive programming environment. JForth contains both an interpreter and a compiler in one language, providing an interactive environment. You may compile programs directly from the keyboard. Programs are interactively debugged immediately following compilation. Whereas Manx 'C' requires about 3.5 minutes to compile the Sieve of Erastothenes, JForth completely compiles the standard Forth version in less than 2 seconds. JForth utilizes a technique known as "JSR-Threading" to tie together compiled programs. This essentially means that all code produced by the compiler is directly executable. The following chart compares JForth with 2 other Forth's, one of which is similarly JSR-Threaded. The operations are common Forth primatives used in virtually all Forth programs. The sieve mentioned is the "Standard Unmodified" Sieve of Erastothenes benchmark. Creative-Solutions | Palo Alto Shipping | Delta Research Multi-Forth | Mach2 | JForth (Amiga 7.16MHz) | (Mac-Plus 8MHz) | (Amiga 7.16MHz) Indirect-Threading | JSR-Threading | JSR-Threading | | ---Sequence-----------Time (in sec.) for 1,000,000 sequences----------- | | Empty DO LOOP 14.14 | 3.75 | 2.86 SWAP 11.22 | 9.68 | 4.64 DUP DROP 11.14 | 5.15 | 3.54 OVER DROP 11.72 | 5.98 | 5.96 23 45 + DROP 26.06 | 15.66 | 8.62 >R R> 12.84 | 11.61 | 7.16 ROT 15.44 | 23.61 | 9.92 23 2* DROP 19.38 | 11.60 | 5.34 Sieve (10 iterations) 21.48 | 11.61 | 8.82 Much more besides speed: + Object-Oriented dialect (similar to NEON) + ASCII or 'SCREEN files (SCR editor provided) + 1983 Standard (1979 and FIG loadable) + Complete DEBUG package + Complete Floating Point package [sorry, I didn't ask if it is IEEE] + JForth newsletter (free) + Local Stack variables + Assembler and Disassembler + Complete 32-bit implementation + Call ANY Amiga function by NAME + Optimizing target compiler ... no royalties + Many utilities provided + Updates available for postage, handling, and media + Elegant Amiga STRUCTURE interface Price: $99.95 (CA residents add 7% sales tax) Contact: Delta Research 4054 Wilkie Way Palo Alto, CA 94306 415-856-3669 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; I did ask a few of the more obvious questions: Q: What's the availability of JForth? A: We're shipping it this month (October). Q: Is it copy protected? A: No! [ Much applause from the onlookers! ] Q: Does it support ALL the Amiga functions? A: Yes. (Everything that's in any Amiga Library.) Q: Does it work with 1.1 and 1.2? A: Yes, it was developed under 1.2. Q: Does it support extended (Fast) memory? A: We're running it with Pacific Cypress's memory board/expansion box right now. My own impressions are that it is indeed a fast programming system, and the product looked stable. The person giving the demo had 6 or 7 JForth windows open at once, showing code, debug screens, program execution that was using graphics calls, etc. Hmmmm ... I've always wanted to learn about Forth ... maybe now is the time. (Time ... who has enough of it :-) ) Just for the record: I'm not associated with Delta Research in any way ... just passing along the information. /kim