[url=http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.67.928&rep=rep1&type=pdf]Practical and Theoretical Aspects of Forth Software Development[/url]
Autor: [url=http://www.rigwit.co.uk/]Peter J. Knaggs[/url]

[size=150]Abstract[/size]
This is an investigation into the use of the Forth programming environment. The main areas of enquiry
were: interfacing Forth to other languages; interfacing Forth and local area networks; and the use of
RISC processors with stack based architecture such as the NC4000 and Harris RTX series.
We describe how to interface Forth and C. We also provide a system with a multi-tasking
interrupt driven interface to the Ibm NetBios networking software and a simple, generic, method of task
activation through message passing.
Many aspects of the investigation proved to be dependent on a more thorough theoretical underpinning
for the Forth language. The use of a typeless parameter stack means that a programmer must
concern himself with the intellectual burden of managing the parameter stack. The mismatching of stack
elements can be the cause of subtle logic errors. We therefore investigated the possibility of developing a
"type algebra" that would allow us to develop a typed version of Forth. This thesis includes a theory
for a "type signature algebra" for the stack based argument passing method used by Forth.
To support the use of multi-tasking we provide a simple, but formal, theory of concurrent tasks
based on state machines that synchronise on events. This has a graphical notation for people who are
not familiar with formal notations.
We also looked at how formalisms might be used to define a semantic model for the Forth
language and how formalisms can help to define the relationship between Forth's stack based virtual
machine and register based target processors.