Forth is a stack-based programming language, with a data stack and a return stack. It was created by Chuck Moore in 1969–1971 at Mohasco and then the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), evolving from his earlier work in the 1960s.
In addition to being a programming language, it can also run standalone ("native") as an interactive shell and operating system. This makes Forth ideal for embedded systems and as an environment for boot monitors.
Forth is extensible. Its "dictionary" of words can be augmented by loading in files with new definitions or by adding definitions interactively.
Chuck Moore named his language "Forth" because he saw it as a fourth-generation programming language. The IBM 1130 system upon which he developed the language at Mohasco only allowed file names with up to five characters; hence "Forth" instead of "Fourth". He has mentioned liking the double entendre of "Forth".
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This is a link to a gzipped tarball of images of Chuck Moore's
original IBM 1130 Forth implementation, posted here with Chuck's
permission:
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Charles Anthony has created a simulation of Chuck Moore's original IBM 1130 Forth at https://gitlab.com/unused0/protoforth.
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Brad Nelson has created an IBM 1130 operator console Web-based GUI
using Charles Anthony's IBM 1130 Forth simulation:
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