Implementing Forth in Go and C
14 days ago
- #Forth
- #Stack Machines
- #Programming Languages
- The author first encountered Forth 20 years ago but didn't explore it deeply until recently.
- Forth can be thought of as having two levels: user level (using the language) and hacker level (understanding and modifying its implementation).
- The author implemented two Forth interpreters: goforth (a pure interpreter in Go) and ctil (a more traditional implementation in C).
- Forth's design is rooted in its historical context as a high-level language for hardware interaction, offering a REPL and DSL capabilities.
- Forth is a concatenative, point-free language, which makes it unique but also challenging for readability and reasoning about code.
- The author finds Forth instructive but considers it a 'weird language' not suited for modern practical use due to its stack-based programming model.
- Implementing Forth is recommended as a self-improvement project for programmers, offering insights into stack machines and language design.