FORTH Standards
										
			   Gerald Shifrin
										
		     Satellite Business Systems
										


There are currently three widely implemented standards of the FORTH 
language. Most users would perceive only minor differences among 
these. There are many more significant differences in the internals 
of the implementations of these standards.

1. fig-FORTH - the first widely implemented version of the language. 
   Source code for fig-FORTH was put in the public domain for most 
   popular microcomputers by the Forth Interest Group. The S/370 
   version was modelled on a public domain version for the PDP-11.

2. FORTH-79 - the first version widely implemented by commercial 
   software vendors. Numerous functions were added, and several changes 
   were made to improve the consistency of the language.

3. FORTH-83 - the current standard for the language. The consistency 
   of the language was improved. Many internal components were 
   separated out and made system dependant. Improved the 
   transportability of applications.