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CHAPTER 1.  WHAT IS F-PC?




1.1.    HOW DID WE GET HERE?


Over the past several years, the programming community for other
languages has changed somewhat.  Several years ago, Forth had enormous
advantages over Fortran, Pascal, and C in terms of development
interactivity.  The Forth development cycle was very short, and new code
modules could be put together for experimentation very quickly.  As the
years went by, programmers for these other languages began to realize
there had to be something better than their traditional debug cycle:
EDIT-COMPILE-LINK-DEBUG and repeat.  This debugging loop could be
measured in days, and each error correction session was normally at least
30 minutes long.

Forth did away with much of the above delays.  The editor was integrated
into the Forth operating system environment, so the time to start up or
leave the editor was zero.  The compiler was incremental, so programs
could be debugged a piece at a time, and there was no linker at all.
This naturally resulted in a productivity improvement and a significant
reduction in programmer frustration.

As the years went by, other programmers noticed how much easier BASIC was
to use than other compiled languages, since it had a built in editor, and
didn't have to be compiled at all.  Of course it was so slow..., but then
along came TURBO PASCAL.  It created fast compiled code, had an
integrated SCREEN editor, and compiled like blazes.

We now start to see some similarities to Forth, a much superior
development environment, where the development iteration cycle has been
reduced to a very small number.  But Turbo Pascal still lacked the Forth
interactivity, and the ability to incrementally debug programs as they
were developed.

Finally along came the Macintosh and Light Speed Pascal (LSP).  It had
evolved from Mac Pascal, an interactive and pseudo interpreted Pascal for
the Mac.  LSP had windows, a built-in screen editor, compiled modules, a
very fast compiler and a light speed linker, with the ability to test
small segments of code, and two built-in debuggers: one for Pascal, and
one for Assembly.  The only problem was that it was PASCAL, not Forth.

It is interesting to ask: "What is holding Forth back and preventing it
from being more popular?" In spite of the strength Forth has in
conciseness, interactiveness, and speed, there are weaknesses which
hinders it's rapid spread in the general computing community.  The most
important weaknesses are in its user interface and its interface to
standard operating systems, which can be attributed directly to the use
of blocks in storing source code.

In the early days of personal computing, programmers had their one and
only choice of editor: the line editor ED and its clone EDLIN.  Comparing
to this environment, the polyForth or figForth block editor was obviously
superior.  However, after WordStar and its derivatives established a firm
position in programmers' toolboxes, most people would reject the Forth
block editor as too primitive a tool for substantial coding efforts.
After IBM-PC's replaced CPM machines, the majority of programmers and
users expect and demand source code and data being made available in
sequential files on 5.25" DOS diskettes.  Blocked text files as used in
F83 was only a half- hearted effort to come to term with reality.

Forth systems perform better if they can access the hardware resources
directly, rather than through the arbitration of an inefficient operating
system.  This was one reason why Chuck Moore invented Forth in the first
place.  Ignoring the operating systems in the early days of main frames
and minicomputers was advantageous because there were as many
incompatible operating systems as there were brands of computers.  In
personal computing, this advantage is rapidly diminishing as the species
of operating systems disappeared rapidly due to natural selection.  It
looks like we will end up with DOS, MAC, and UNIX (may be OS2).  In this
situation, Forth systems must provide smooth and efficient interface to
the operating systems, to be accessed conveniently by the users.

F-PC provides a much polished interface between a user and his
IBM-PC/XT/AT or compatible computer.  Sequential files are adopted as the
principal means of programming and documentation. The user is comforted
by a very sophisticated and intuitive text editor to enter and modify his
code and documentation, not constrained by the very limiting block
structure.  The interface to the underlying DOS is seamless to allow the
user full access to tools and services provided by DOS and other
utilities.  In so doing, F-PC can be installed on all DOS compatible
machines.

Speed is another major character in F-PC.  Most of its text interpreter
and compiler are coded in assembly to make sure that it matches the speed
and convenience of a block based system.  64K byte memory limit is
removed by placing code, names, colon definitions, and text files in
different segments in the 1M byte addressing space.  Utility is also
provided to address extended memory.

Since F-PC is a public domain software package, it has attracted many
experienced Forth programmers to contribute utilities and applications.
It is quickly becoming a huge resource pool where old and new Forth users
can draw inspirations and practical solutions to their programming needs.

Because the sequential files were the major focus of F-PC when it was
first evolved it is important that we summarize the distinct advantages
of using sequential files to store source code.  Here is a partial list:

1.      Source files are smaller, so backing up or transporting files is
        easier.

2.      Sequential source files can be manipulated or examined by editors
        that other people have, not just by the Forth block editor.

3.      There is no artificial limit on the size of a file.  The file can
        be extended as needed.  White space in a file does not take up
        extra bytes.

4.      There is no artificial limit placed on the size of word
        definitions.  In the block based system we usually give up line
        zero for a comment line, and line 15 for nudge space.

5.      There is no artificial limit placed on the amount of comments one
        can place with the source.  Again, compared to blocks with
        shadows, 16 lines of shadow were either too much or too little.

6.      Sequential files provide a much more natural interface to the
        operating systems which were designed to handle them.

7.      It allows plenty of room for inserting a new line in the middle
        of a source file, without having to drop out of the editor, and
        use special commands to move things around.  All we have to do is
        pressing <enter>.

So here we are at the end (or beginning) of a long road, looking back at
what we have done, and looking forward to the future.  Blocks were
certainly very useful for forcing us to modularize our code.  That was a
big advantage while we were learning Forth.  Maybe newcomers to Forth
should be required to learn the system on a BLOCK version.  But now that
we have come of age, we should know where to modularize our code better
than the computer does.


1.2.    F-PC, WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?


This Forth was implemented by Tom Zimmer, with substantial help from
Robert L. Smith.  Some of the direct threaded low level code
modifications came from a LaForth implementation by Bob and LaFarr Stuart
.  George Hawkins contributed the Browser.  This is yet another step in
the Forth evolution being undertaken to obtain the ideal Forth system.
This Forth maintains very high compatibility with F83, which was its
predecessor.

F-PC is a Forth that uses three main segments for Forth itself, and
additional segments for other purposes, like the editor, screen saving,
etc.  The three main segments in F-PC are:  First, a 64K Code Segment for
code, variables, and any user arrays that are not specifically placed in
an external segment.  The compiler also places the code field of all
colon definitions in this Code Segment.  Code fields in F-PC are three
(3) bytes in length.  The second List Segment contains the bodies of
colon definitions and strings.  Its size is not limited to 64K bytes, and
can use as much memory as allowed by the operating system.  The third
segment of 64k contains the heads, or symbols in F-PC.

Since a typical program is about half program and half data, the
separation of code and colon space results in an easy doubling or more of
effective program space.  About 300K of total data/program space is
available, with most useful utilities already loaded.  This can be
increased to over 400k by deleting things you don't need. A small loss
(about 5%) in performance resulted from this separation of colon
definitions from the code space, but the benefits of expanded program
space greatly exceeds the disadvantages.

The primary difference from other Forth systems that you are likely to
encounter is that code fields are three (3) bytes rather than 2, and the
code field of a low level code word does not point to code, but contains
code.  This is generally known as 'direct threaded code (DTC).'   F-PC
has moved the address list in a colon word to a separate List segment, so
there are two bytes in the body (parameter field) of each colon
definition that points into the List space of the colon definition which
contains a list of code field addresses.  The List space can expand to
fill all available RAM memory.  It is not limited to a single 64K byte
segment.

Variables, constants, and strings are handled in the same way as in F83.
That is, they are in the Code space.  This segmentation seems to provide
a reasonable balance.  As the dictionary expands, more user data space is
needed, which works well with F-PC, as most of the free space is in
Code/Data space.

This system comes with a meta compiler.  It can thus regenerate itself
with user extensions.  DOS batch files are provided to ease the meta
compilation.  Users can also produce turnkey systems without having to go
through the meta compilation process.

As F-PC currently exists, there is about 27k of List dictionary space, 27
K of Head space, and 35k of Code space.  The List space can be increased
by changing the number of segments assigned to it and save the system.
The new system thus saved will have a larger List space when executed.
The usable memory can also be expanded by removing some of the optional
files from the list of load files in F-PC.SEQ. The removable files are
marked in F-PC.SEQ. Some of these files are listed as follows:

                PATHSET.SEQ     WORDS.SEQ       COLOR.SEQ      DUMP.SEQ
                DECOM.SEQ         DEBUG.SEQ       STATUS.SEQ MACROS.SEQ
                PATCHER.SEQ     FILSTAT.SEQ     FWORDS.SEQ

If some of these files are removed, a significant savings in dictionary
space will result. Fairly large programs can now be coded in F-PC,
although there are still some obvious limits.  It is doubtful that
ZoomRacks the database Tom coded while at QuickView Systems could be
compiled in F-PC without overlays.  ZoomRacks consisted of more than 2M
bytes of source screens, and used all RAM outside the program as
contiguous data space for the user.


1.3.    FEATURES IN F-PC 2.25


The first thing you should know is that F-PC is trying to achieve a
number of conflicting goals.  It is intended to be a Forth system that
provides all of the following:

        Compatible to F83 and Forth-83 Standard
        Smooth Interface to DOS, using sequential files
        Fast compilation and execution
        Integrated text file editor for easy programming and documentation
        Many utilities and tools
        Room for very large application programs

Impossible, you say.  Perhaps, but if you give F-PC a chance you may find
some things you like. In line with the above goals, here is a list of
some of F-PC's major features:

        Direct threaded dictionary for speed
        Separated lists and heads to increase space
        Prefix assembler to enhance readability
        Postfix assembly syntax for compatibility with  F83
        Full DOS access from system and command shell level control
        Full directory/path based file system
        Viewing words across directory boundaries
        Full user configurable sequential text editor provided in source
        Full DOS memory management interface
        Headers can be selectively removed
        Many contributions from users on a wide range of applications


F-PC is a Forth derived from many sources. Henry Laxen, and Michael Perry
being the original developers of F83. Tom Zimmer, along with Robert L.
Smith, Charles Curley, and Jerry Modrow put together the original
version.  A F-PC Working Group was organized in the Silicon Valley
Chapter of Forth Interest Group to coordinate the testing and
documentation of this system.  F-PC 2.25 was released in November, 1988,
and F-PC 3.5 is released in November 1989.

F-PC is a Direct Threaded Code (DTC) Forth. That is it contains code in
the code field rather than pointing to code.  DTC gives a noticeable
boost in performance, which was needed to counteract the next
enhancement.

F-PC keeps the body or the list portion of colon definitions in a
separate segment-the List space. This substantially increases the space
available for your program. There is a penalty to pay in performance,
with an extra level of indirect jump required in NEST.

F-PC has a prefix assembler. Code definitions are coded with a syntax
similar to MASM, in the form " MOV AX, BX ".  We have found this syntax
to be much more readable to "traditional" programmers than the standard
F83 postfix assembler.  To reduce the pain to current F83 users, the
assembler supports the old F83 assembler syntax as well. Just use the
word POSTFIX to select postfix assembler syntax, and then use PREFIX to
switch back to the prefix syntax.  An 8086 family disassembler is
provided. The disassembler was written by Charles Curley, and includes
8087 support added by Robert L. Smith.

F-PC supports full pathnames and file handles. File names may be up to 63
characters in length including path.  All source is in sequential files.
No blocks in this system. The original F83 BLOCK system is available as a
load-on if needed.  Several powerful file words have been included. FLOOK
allows searching through one or many files for a particular character
sequence. FPRINT allows you to make formatted listings of one, all, or a
set of Forth source files. EDITALL allows you to edit a string through
many files.  INDEX displays the first line of a set of files.

The compiler itself has been substantially optimized, with almost all of
WORD being in code. The system currently uses 64 threads, which is just
at the point of diminishing return for a 2000 word vocabulary. With the 8
vocabularies this system has, only about 1k bytes of Code space is used
for the vocabulary head pointers.

A help file is provided with each source file, these can be used like F83
shadow screens were used, that is to hold comments about the words in the
source file. The word VIEW accesses the .SEQ file, and the word HELP
accesses the .HLP file. As much or as little text can be placed in the
help file for each word compiled.

Many utilities are included. An enhanced debugger allows nesting and
unnesting of colon definitions.


1.4.    NEW FEATURES IN F-PC 3.5


F-PC version 2.25 was released in November 1988.  Tom Zimmer agreed, with
great reluctance, not to make any changes so that it can be distributed
among Forth users as a common programming environment for information
exchange.  Modifications, enhancements, and bug-fixes implemented and
tested over the ten month period were distributed privately by Tom under
the name F-TZ.  The F-PC Working Group in their September 23, 1989
meeting decided to adopt F- TZ and distribute it as F-PC version 3.5.  A
partial list of the added features are:

        Hypertext on-line help and documentation
        Browser to examine code and documentation
        Mouse support in editor
        Enhanced pull down menu and pop up windows
        Expanded memory support
        Lots of bug fixes and minor enhancements
        Update and corrections on kernel help files

For those who have used F-PC 2.25 and like to know more about the
differences between it and F- PC 3.5, please consult the file
FPCNOTES.TXT where Tom Zimmer logged the bug fixes and the enhancements.

User contributed programs are deleted from the new version because of
disk space limitations. However, user contributions will be continually
solicited.  The Silicon Valley Chapter of the Forth Interest Group will
coordinate the consolidation and distribution of user contributed works.