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Win32Forth

The
Documentation

Welcome to Win32Forth, a Windows implementation of the ANS Forth programming
language. Documentation is difficult stuff to write, and even more difficult to
keep up to date, so please

inform us if you find errors or omissions, or speling erors like this;
anything, no matter how small. You’ll find the link to do so on all the
documentation pages (it’s marked with this icon
in the top left hand
corner of each page) or if you’d like to contribute (words only, there’s no
money involved in this at all), please jot up your ideas and

let us know. There are no navigation buttons on these pages; please use your
browser’s back and forward buttons.

Who’s the We?

The Win32Forth Project
Group was formed in 2002 as a loose affiliation of programmers and users of
Tom Zimmer’s Win32Forth system. Tom interests took him elsewhere in 2001 and
2002 (mainly Java), and he no longer took an active interest in his system. Tom
gifted his product into the public domain; this group intends furthering
the work of maintaining and developing a Forth product suitable for Windows and
the 21st century based on his work.

Some of this documentation is based on Tom’s original work; when you see “we”
it means the Win32Forth group; when you see I, it’s Tom speaking. You is
definitely not us or him. Anyhow, enough of that (or this), lets

START HERE!

ok, ok, I’ll quit shouting. As the
“Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy”
would
say;

“DON’T PANIC”

Getting started isn’t that difficult and the rest, you can
pickup along the way.

You are about to embark on a great adventure. Your intelligence and
determination will allow you to explore, discover and conquer the complex world
of Forth in a Windows environment. Proceed slowly and carefully, you don’t want
to get shot down too often or too quickly, and remember that the rewards you
receive for your effort, include: mastery of the well known, but little
understood programming continent, called Windows. But, the fun is in the trip,
so enjoy it. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, few of them are likely to be
fatal. Share what you learn with others. Remember that discovery within a group
is rewarding for everyone in the group. Don’t take this too seriously.

Most of the hyperlinks in this file take you to destinations that are in
files loaded as part of the Win32Forth install, but some links will take you to
Internet web addresses that contain additional resources. They’re marked with
this symbol:

The History of Win32Forth
Overview, Philosophy & the Non Existent Warranty
Overview of the Architecture
Windows Versions Supported; that means no
Linux, no Mac. Sorry.
Obtaining & Installing Win32Forth for free!
Legally!
Running Win32Forth
Getting Started
Your First Forth Program
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions; with some
frequently given answers.
Getting Help

Win32Forth development tools

SciEdit (Win32Forth Source-Editor)
ForthForm (Win32Forth Dialog-Editor)
ForthProject (Win32Forth Project Manager)
Dex Document Extractor
W32FDex Win32Forth extensions for the Document Extractor

Forth primers

A Forth Primer: And So Forth Copyright J.L.
Bezemer 2001-04-06 under GPL (PDF format; you can
get Acrobat
here)
A Beginner’s Guide to Forth by Julian V. Noble
Starting Forth First Edition
(Marcel Hendrix’s Forth website. Much disputed copyright about this, but
a good introductory text)
Thinking Forth
For the more advanced user (PDF format)
Programming Forth by Stephen Pelc
(PDF format)

ANS Forth documentation

ANS Forth; the authoritative
definition of Forth.
The ANS Forth Wordlist; all the standard words. Excellent bedtime reading for
insomniacs.
Win32Forth and the ANS Forth Standard; satisfying the documentation
requirements of the ANS Forth Standard

Once you’ve got to grips with the basics, it’s time to move on to the:

Advanced Topics

Advanced topics aren’t really that advanced, but if you’re just starting out
with Win32Forth, these are best revisited once you’ve got to grips with the
basics. Oh, go on then. Read them anyhow…