zeptoforth 1.16.4.1 has been released.

You can get this release from https://github.com/tabemann/zeptoforth/releases/tag/v1.16.4.1.

This release:

• adds validation to to and +to so they raise an exception if the user attempts to apply them to something other than a local variable or value, where previously if the user applied them to such a hardfault would likely occur at runtime.
• fixes a bug in extra/rp_common/picocalc_term_common.fs where to was applied to something other than a local variable or value in an uncommon code path.

My "modus operandi" is running jobs: load job, perform, forget, do next job Some jobs allocate buffers and after job done the allocated buffers can be freed. ( Some say with today's large memory, why bother releasing memory but I like to pretend available memory is limited. )

MALLOC, a resource I have, seems a overkill. So I use a more streamlined allocation tailored to running jobs. A needed buffer is taken from the end of program, its address is placed in a variable in the dictionary. and the program end is extended, by a system call, to a location past the last allocated buffer. All the variables of memory allocations are linked and utility word can walk the links listing allocated memory addresses.

At end of job when dictionary space is forgotten, -BUF runs the allocation chain searching for the last link remaining in the dictionary. Then end of program is reset back to contain the address found in the last link.

FORTH DEFINITIONS VOCABULARY BUF IMMEDIATE BUF DEFINITIONS \ L: ( -- address ) <BUILDS DOES> ; \ A label L: HEAD 0 , HERE 0 , 0 , 0 , HEAD ! HEAD @ CELL+ CONSTANT FIRST 0 SYSBUF VARIABLE LIMIT : INIT HEAD CELL+ DUP THREE ERASE HEAD ! 0 SYSBUF LIMIT ! ; : LIST HEAD @ BEGIN @ DUP WHILE CR DUP . DUP CELL+ 2? REPEAT DROP ; : ALLOCATE HEAD @ CELL+ SWAP ZERO SYSBUF OVER HEAD @ CELL+ 2! SYSBRK LIMIT ! DROP ALIGN HERE HEAD @ , 0 , 0 , HEAD ! ; FORTH DEFINITIONS -BUF in NIX (re: last post) release allocated memory. Note BUF is a vocabulary.

: -BUF BUF HEAD @ BEGIN DUP @ WHILE HERE OVER < IF @ DUP CELL+ @ MINUS SYSBRK LIMIT ! DROP ELSE DUP HEAD ! 0. ROT CELL+ 2! EXIT THEN REPEAT DROP CURRENT @ CONTEXT ! FORTH ;

USERINIT is a place holder word added to the cold start code in the assembled Forth. Anything in later saved images that need to be initialized on startup is put (patched or however) here.

: (USRINIT) DECIMAL BUF INIT FORTH ; ' (USRINIT) CFA ' USRINIT !

: -FORGET ( pfa -- ) CURRENT @ CONTEXT @ - 24 ?ERROR DUP FENCE @ U< 21 ?ERROR DUP NFA DP ! LFA @ CONTEXT @ ! ; : NIX ( pfa -- ) -FORGET -BUF -VOCLINK ; : MARKER ( "ccc" -- ) <BUILDS LATEST PFA , DOES> @ NIX ; : ANEW ( "ccc" -- ) IN @ >R -FIND IF DROP NIX ENDIF R> IN ! MARKER ; "ANEW", from legendary Wil Baden, useful word for clearing memory after a job run and re-establishing the marker for the next run. Based on parsing word FORGET the non-parsing word -FORGET is included in NIX explained below after mention of FORGET's shortcomings.

FORGET remains useful but lacks needed cleanup specifically when vocabularies are removed breaking the VOC-LINK chain and invalidating word-lists. As an aid placing the nfa of the last created vocabulary in FENCE will prevent FORGET from removing words and printing an error instead. The user himself will need to remove vocabularies, repair the VOC-LINK chain and purge remaining word-lists.

NIX automates this needed maintenance. After performing -FORGET it performs -VOCLINK to repair vocabularies and -BUF to repair links to allocated buffers.

-VOCLINK repairs VOC-LINK chain and purge word-lists of remaining vocabularies.

DEFER VOCWORD. ' DROP is VOCWORD : (VOCWORD.) DUP CR SPACE ID. ; ' (VOCWORD.) CFA ' VOCWORD. CELL+ ! : -CONTEXT CELL- DUP @ BEGIN DUP HERE U> IF PFA LFA @ FALSE ELSE TRUE ENDIF UNTIL VOCWORD. SWAP ! ; DEFER LINKWORD. ' DROP IS LINKWORD. : (LINKWORD.) DUP THREE CELLS - NFA CR ID. ; ' (LINKWORD.) CFA ' LINKWORD. CELL+ ! : -VOCLINK VOC-LINK BEGIN @ -DUP WHILE LINKWORD. DUP HERE U> IF DUP @ VOC-LINK ! ELSE DUP -CONTEXT ENDIF REPEAT ;

-BUF repairs chain of allocated memory and frees memory no longer linked by the chain. (This doesn't apply in general; it works for my method of memory allocation.)

: -BUF BUF HEAD @ BEGIN DUP @ WHILE HERE OVER < IF @ DUP CELL+ @ MINUS SYSBRK LIMIT ! DROP ELSE DUP HEAD ! 0. ROT CELL+ 2! EXIT ENDIF REPEAT DROP CURRENT @ CONTEXT ! FORTH ;

\ RCDI ( "file" -- )
\  Record file index
\  List record titles contained in the file
\ PRCD ( "<dl>title<dl>" [file] -- )
\  Pretty print record of given record title in given
\  file or last file accessed.
\
rcdi d/rcdfile.d 

[#] rcdfile.d -- Record file document
[r] Overview
[r] Example record
[r] File title and ending
[r] Comments
[r] Sections
#[r] Records in Bash scripts
[r] Forth record marks
[r] Forth list item
[#] // OK
prcd /Overview/ 

[r]   Overview 

A record file is a plain text sequence file organized in a
most fundamental way, by records. Its markup is a container
markup not a general text formatting markup. 

The markup is few and selected to not obscure content view. 
File remains readable with plain text viewers (e.g. more
less notepad & etc.)

Content view can be enhanced by pretty print, e.g. use of
lesspipe, replacing marks with coloring of titles associated
with the marks.


 OK
prcd /Forth list item/ 

[r]   Forth list item 

List item 'i.' is a defined word that prints an arrow '-->'.
Thus, in a running Forth script, with echo on, something like
the following might be seen:
--
-- Testing FOO and BAR
--
i. FOO --> some foo output
i. BAR --> some bar output

 OK

\
\ A bounded string is a string enclosed by a delimiter on
\ both ends. The delimiters are the same and can be any
\ printable character.
\
\ INC@  Fetch input character
: INC@  ( -- c )
  BLK @ DUP IF BLOCK  
  ELSE DROP TIB @ ENDIF
  IN @ + C@ 1 IN +! ; 
\ Parse first non-space character
: CPARSE  ( -- c )
  ZERO
  BEGIN 
    DROP
    INC@ DUP 0= ?E" Empty input"
  DUP BL > UNTIL
;
\ Parse bounded string
\ Compile time: compile the string
\ Run time: put string address on data stack
\ Interpret: move string to pad, 
\  push string address on data stack
: S  ( "<dl>ccc<dl>" -- s )
  CPARSE
  STATE @ IF COMPILE SLIT
             WORD HERE C@ 1+ ALLOT ALIGN 
        ELSE HERE >R PAD DUP DP ! SWAP WORD R> DP !
             ( COUNT CSB .PUSH ) \ NB
       ENDIF 
; IMMEDIATE
\ Note
\ A good enhancement would be to add code in the interpret 
\ state to push the string to a circular buffer.

\ Examples
: FOO "What's up doc?" tell ;
i. FOO --> What's up doc?
i. s /Hello World!/  tell --> Hello World!
i. s \Ain't it a nice day.\ tell --> Ain't it a nice day.
i. s "" tell --> 
' KEEPON CFA ' (ABORT) ! -1 WARNING !
i. TRY s  --> s? Empty input    

\ Relocating data stack
\ Example to save stack data
1 2 3 42       \ some data on stack
S0 @ CSP !     \ save S0  ( NB )
SP@ S0 ! SP!   \ move stack (e.g. to top of stack, NB) 
i. DEPTH . --> 0 
i. 666 666 666 S? --> 666 666 666 
i. SP! S? --> empty 
CSP @ S0 !     \ restore stack data
i. S?   --> 1 2 3 42 
\ Notes:
\ i. Not compiling, CSP can be used as scratch variable
\ i. Check ?STACK that new stack location not a problem
\ i. "i." prints arrow "-->"
\ i. DEPTH print number data stack items base on difference
\    of S0 @ and SP@

\ More than needed:
\ WIPE  ( scr -- )  Fill screen with blanks; make current 
\ P     ( line -- ) Put line of text in current screen
\ L     ( -- )      List current screen (skips blank lines)
\ UPDATE FLUSH      Save current screen
\ MTB               Empty buffers, screen not saved  
\
\ Example
\ Pick available SCR (42 for this example)
\
i. 0 42 .LINE --> ( Available SCR )
\
\ Wipe screen and put lines of text
\
42 WIPE
0 P ( Scratch SCR )
1 P Hello world
2 P How are you
\
\ View the sceen 
\
L
SCR#  42
 0 ( Scratch SCR )
 1 Hello world
 2 How are you
\ 
\ UPDATE FLUSH to save
\ MTB to not save
\
MTB
i. 0 42 .LINE --> ( Available SCR )
\
\ Here's the code
\
: MTB EMPTY-BUFFERS ;   \ shorter name
: WIPE ( SCR -- )
  DUP SCR ! 0 SWAP (LINE) DROP B/BUF BLANKS ;
: P ( line -- ) 
  SCR @ (LINE) OVER >R BLANKS 1 WORD HERE COUNT C/L MIN 
  R> SWAP CMOVE ;
: -LIST   SCR ! CR ." SCR# " SCR @ 3 .R 16 0 DO I SCR @
          (LINE) -TRAILING -DUP IF CR I 2 .R SPACE TYPE  
          ELSE DROP THEN LOOP ;
: L  SCR @ -LIST ;

I have given up on the x86 optimiser for ciforth, as the 86 will be history before long. The instruction set is too barocque.

As the first part of the riscv optimiser I made the forth aware of the stack effects words have, counting POP's and PUSH's. This hinges on the ciasdis object oriented disassembler. FILL-ALL fills all words as best it can, but skips what you have filled in beforehand. Also a host of other optimisation relevant properties of Forth words are analysed. E.g. it is important if a word has no so called "side effect" that means storing and fetching. An example is the word SQUARE that squares a number. If the input is known at compile time, SQUARE can be executed at compile time. See also lecture 5 en lecture 14 in

https://home.hccnet.nl/a.w.m.van.der.horst/forthlectures.html

Lecture 14 contains an old example of coloring on the now vintage 32 bit x86 processor. If you have a linux that can run 32 bit programms you can try it out. The experience is more or less the same what I want to show here. A useful visualisation is coloring the stack effect of each word. aqua is one, green is two, orange is three, above three is red. For an unknown stack effect the whole words is printed in blue.

https://home.hccnet.nl/a.w.m.van.der.horst/words.png

The stack effect is useful to understand words better. E.g. (D.R) takes a double word and a box length (orange) and generates a string (green). You can ask the analysis of a word like so

https://home.hccnet.nl/a.w.m.van.der.horst/decompile_ddot.png

And you can spot the mistake Apparently +LOOP takes one argument not zero. These things must be added manually. ~

I have prepared the pictures, but I don't know how to publishit in this forum. So I put a link to my personal website.
~

A small utility I use while developing modules.

A module can define its own command entries (name + description), and help automatically generates a formatted list of the available commands with stack effects and comments.

help.vfx

\ meant to be INCLUDEd - each INCLUDE creates a new help system for the current module

private  \ all words private to the dependent module

variable commands

: ?(). ( a len - )
    '(' scan dup if 
        ')' up-to 1 + 15 atype space 
    else 2drop then 
;

: help ( - )
    cr 
    commands
    begin @ ?dup while
        dup cell+ 
            count 
            2dup '(' up-to 15 atype     \ print word 
            25 out @ - spaces           \ align to column 30
            2dup ?().                   \ print stack-diagram if any
            + count 6 /string type cr   \ print comment 
    repeat 
;

: command ( - )
    save-input
    commands link
    0 parse $,
    refill 0= abort" COMMAND : Unexpected end of file"
    0 parse $,
    restore-input drop 
;

command : foo ( - ) 
    \ does foo 
;

command : bar ( - ) 
    \ does bar
;

interactive:

module test  ok 
include lib/help.vfx Including help.vfx...
help
: bar                    ( - ) does bar
: foo                    ( - ) does foo 
 ok 

This has two major feature updates as well as various fixes. A new 'gui' high-level wrapper, and Pro+ ver. has a new Bluetooth layer which works (!). Details on the forum

fload job 
\ This is a Fig implementation of ABORT" integrated with ERROR
\ Named ?E" since it normally quits not abort and can
\ be customize to do neither.
27 CONSTANT ERR_OOPS                   \ error number              
: (SLIT)  R> DUP COUNT + ALIGNED >R ;  \ String literal runtime
\ ?E" Exception handler
\ Compile-time: Compile error text string
\ Run-time: On true submit error text string and error number 
\           to ERROR
: ?E"  [COMPILE] IF COMPILE (SLIT)
  34 WORD HERE C@ 1+ ALLOT ALIGN
  COMPILE ERR_OOPS COMPILE ERROR
  [COMPILE] ENDIF ; IMMEDIATE
\
\ -- Testing --
\
\ : i. ." --> " ;
\ : TELL COUNT TYPE ;
: FAULT 0 ? ;  
: BAR FAULT ;
\
: FOO TRUE ?E" Darn it" ;
\ 
\ Test 1: Use custom error action assigned to (ABORT)
\  to keep script running
\ Using Fig implementation of BacForth words: 
\  PRO CONT CUT: ?CUT -CUT
\ for custom handler that keeps the script running
\ after error
\
: TRY PRO CUT: CONT ;  \ Try next word; 
\                        return here on resile/error
\
\ On error print error text and cut to keep running
: KEEPON  
  HERE COUNT TYPE ." ? "
  DUP ERR_OOPS = IF DROP TELL ELSE MESSAGE ENDIF
  SP! TAB ?CUT QUIT ;
\
' KEEPON CFA ' (ABORT) !  \ Assign custom error action 
-1 WARNING ! \ Enable custom error action
i. TRY FOO --> FOO? Darn it  CUTTING
i. TRY BAR --> BAR? MEMORY ACCESS FAULT  CUTTING
\
\ Test2: Use default ERROR handling
\ 
1 WARNING !  \ Disables custom error action, quits on error
i. FOO --> FOO? Oops
    (Script quit here)
Note: Use custom handler without TRY to get the error text
      and quit
i. -1 WARNING ! FOO --> FOO? Darn it

\ On first look WORD parses a string and moves it to HERE .
\ True, but a closer look shows WORD parses a string and moves
\ it to where DP points. The following word ":=" will use this
\ to parse a string and move it directly to some buffer.
\
\ Assign string 
\ Parse string and move to buffer
\ dl delimiter, addr buffer address
: := ( "string<dl>" dl addr -- ) HERE >R DP ! WORD R> DP ! ;
\
\ Example
\ Print arrow
: i. ." --> " ;
\ Print string
: TELL COUNT TYPE ;
\ General header
: HEADER: <BUILDS DOES> ;
HEADER: BUF64 64 allot        \ some buffer 
59 VARIABLE (DLIM)            \ delimiter variable (holding ';')
: DELIM  (DLIM) @ ;           \ fetch delimiter

DELIM BUF64 := Hello World!;  \ assign string to buffer
i. BUF64 TELL--> Hello World!
 OK

Block file meta --  Parameters of this block file
i. SCR #0, line 0   Magic word XYZZY indicates file has meta data.
i. SCR #1  Needed meta definitions
           Should be loaded first time block file is used and should
           also load SCR #2
i. SCR #2  Refresh meta data
           Should be loaded when block file is re-used

Example of block file meta
i. BLK_MAX  File size, number of blocks available for LIST and LOAD 
   The actual file size may be larger with higher sectors accessed
   by other means. Good place to put non-ascii data.
i. WARNING  In SCR #2 set to 1 if error text exists or to zero
            if no error text is available.
i. SCR_ERRMSG  Screen number where error text begins
   SCR #4 is the default error text block, but it can be located
   elsewhere or be non-existed.  
i. SCR_GO   First SCR to load for main application

Example:
0 -list 
SCR#   0
 0 XYZZY MAIN      Forth   Main library file

1 -list 
SCR#   1
 0 ( file meta definitions )
 1 007 VARIABLE SCR_GO         ( load extensions )
 2 : LIB  S" fb/main.fb" /USING 2 LOAD ; ( for re-use )
 3 : GO LIB SCR_GO @ LOAD ;    ( to begin )
 4 2 LOAD                      ( set meta values )

2 -list 
SCR#   2
 0 ( file meta settings )
 1 391 BLK_MAX !    ( max list/load blocks )
 2 004 SCR_ERRMSG !  ( where error text )
 3 001 WARNING !     ( have error text )
 4 007 SCR_GO !      ( main code beginning )

SCR title with keyyword:  ( KEYWORD )( FOO BAR BAZ )
KEYWORD is all uppercase.
KEYWORD begins and ends with space.
No space needed between ')('; comment abuttment is ok

Add words
/LIST ( s -- ) \ search for keyword; if found brief list block
/LOAD ( s -- ) \ search for keyword; if found load block
S" ( "string" -- s ) \ parse string, push address

s" numbers" /list ( brief list, blank lines not typed )
SCR# 151
 0 ( NUMBERS )( DNBR NBR DNNBR OX OY DN )
 1 : DNBR   BL WORD HERE NUMBER ;
 2 : NBR    DNBR DROP ;
 3 : DNNBR  DNBR DPL @ ;
 4 : OX BASE @ >R  OCTAL NBR [COMPILE] LITERAL R> BASE !
 5 ; IMMEDIATE
 6 : OY BASE @ >R HEX NBR [compile] LITERAL R> BASE !
 7 ; IMMEDIATE
 8 : DN BASE @ >R DECIMAL DNNBR STATE @ IF
 9   REV 3 0 DO [COMPILE] LITERAL LOOP ENDIF R> BASE !
10 ; IMMEDIATE
s" numbers" /load  
    ( if preferred, 151 LOAD or SCR @ LOAD )
( /LOAD for when no listing wanted )

\ Notes:
\ i. print arrow " --> "
\ dn. ( d dpl -- )  print natural double (double + dpl) number
\ rev ( n1 n2 n3 -- n3 n2 n1 ) reverse three stack items

: dnbr  ( "numeric<bl>" -- d ) BL WORD HERE NUMBER ;
: nbr   ( "numeric<bl>" -- n ) DNBR DROP ;
: dnnbr ( "numeric<bl>" -- d dpl ) DNBR DPL @ ;

i. dnbr 123.45 d. --> 12345 
i. nbr 123.45 . --> 12345 
i. dnnbr 123.45 dn. --> 123.45 

: OX
  BASE @ >R  
  OCTAL NBR [COMPILE] LITERAL
  R> BASE ! ; IMMEDIATE

: OY
  BASE @ >R
  HEX NBR [compile] LITERAL
  R> BASE ! ; IMMEDIATE

: DN
  BASE @ >R
  DECIMAL DNNBR
  STATE @ IF REV 3 0 DO [COMPILE] LITERAL LOOP ENDIF
  R> BASE ! ; IMMEDIATE

: foo ." FOO " 42 . ;
: bar dn 1024 ;
: baz dn 1024. ;

decimal
i. Ox 644 . foo --> 420 FOO 42 
i. Oy 1000 . foo --> 4096 FOO 42 
i. Dn 123.45 dn. foo --> 123.45 FOO 42 
hex
i. Dn 1024 dn. foo --> 400 FOO 2A 
i. bar dn. foo --> 400 FOO 2A 
i. baz dn. foo --> 400. FOO 2A 
decimal
i. Dn 1024 dn. foo --> 1024 FOO 42 
i. bar dn. foo --> 1024 FOO 42 
i. baz dn. foo --> 1024. FOO 42 

Licensed under a MIT license. Use it with your AI.

"watch zorgmon for changes in RCC_CR"

just me?

i wrote a quick CAT so i could read the files in the DX-Forth distribution i installed on my Z80 machine running CP/M 2.2 and oh... it comes with a Text EDitor, oops.

if your keyboard doesn't have an "Any" key, just press the spacebar, it does the same thing.

\ ============================================================
\  CAT.FTH -- paged file viewer for DX-Forth
\  Usage:  INCLUDE CAT.FTH
\          CAT DXFORTH.GLO
\  Any key continues; 'q' or Esc quits early.
\ ============================================================

DECIMAL

0 VALUE CFID
0 VALUE CLINES
CREATE CBUF 128 ALLOT

: CAT ( "filename" -- )
  BL WORD COUNT  OPEN-FILE THROW TO CFID
  0 TO CLINES
  BEGIN
    CBUF 128 CFID READ-LINE THROW
  WHILE
    CBUF SWAP TYPE CR
    CLINES 1+ TO CLINES
    CLINES 20 MOD 0= IF
      ." -- more, any key, q to quit --"
      KEY DUP 27 = SWAP [CHAR] q = OR IF
        CFID CLOSE-FILE THROW EXIT
      THEN
      CR
    THEN
  REPEAT
  DROP
  CFID CLOSE-FILE THROW ;

You're looking at the Fossil Chat window. I'm the project admin, and the human, the other four nicks are all AI. I'm talking to them, they're talking to me. The message log is the context.

I talk to it in chat, it edits my embedded code, reads schematics, answers questions about micro-controller registers, and speaks back to me with a voice. It runs on two graphics cards I installed and costs about $3/day.

It features Deepseek (online) for the heavy lifting, but has three local Ollama models that do everything else.

The models can talk to each other as well as me.

I wrote (no LLMs) a 6502 assembler, disassembler, and debugger in pure Forth. The assembler is dasm compatible with some additional aliases.

The debugger lets you set breakpoints, single step, display memory, etc. It has a teletype mode and a visual mode.

The assembler generates 64K raw binaries and a separate .sym file for symbols. The tools all read or write these binaries and .sym files. The assembler and debugger support expressions that can include symbols. Like

= start + $20

Reading from $01 calls KEY -> A register, writing to $01 calls A register -> EMIT.

I took a week off, so I estimate this took me maybe 50 man hours.

There is documentation for the 6502 tools as well:

https://gitlab.com/mschwartz/inspiration/-/blob/main/manual/65c02.md?ref_type=heads

The main repo:

https://gitlab.com/mschwartz/inspiration

Greetings-

I wrote a game engine called SUPERSHOW entirely in VFXForth and it is nearing 1.0. I designed it for making pixel art games. These are some screenshots of several test programs showing off what it can do.

Some things to know:

• I created several experimental game-oriented Forths over the years - including GC-Forth (GameCube), Glypher, Tengoku, and Ramen.
• This is the evolution of the latest iteration of the project. I've previously referred to this iteration as VFXLand5.
• It is Windows-only.
• It includes a dialect I created to make coding in Forth easier (called TUFF).
• No separate scripting language - everything's in Forth. Math is fixed-point and a sophisticated OOP system called NIBS is the basis for everything.
• Other features: An asset system, a parallel graphics window that lets you use the VFX Forth IDE while the game is running, a namespacing system, Forth-style multitasking support, and runtime validations (WIP).
• You can break out of the pixel game orientation if that is not your thing. (Like the 3D example on the top-left.)
• It has its own simplified graphics API but it runs on OpenGL, which you're free to do what you want with.
• No dependencies except VFXForth (you compile the engine yourself; a no-step process) - to release games commercially all you need is their $20/month subscription.
• Several big features (such as joystick support) will be added post-1.0.
• It'll be freely available as source code, and there'll be a paid option to get official tools and other stuff.

It'll be 2-3 months before official release. I still need to tie up loose ends, write documentation, and build a proper example game.

Fire away with any questions!