https://github.com/larsbrinkhoff/lbforth

Self-hosting metacompiled Forth, bootstrapping from a few lines of C; targets Linux, Windows, ARM, RISC-V, 68000, PDP-11, asm.js.
https://github.com/larsbrinkhoff/lbforth

6502 8051 arm asmjs avr compiler cortex-m forth interpreter linux m68k metacompiler msp430 pdp11 programming-language risc-v riscv self-hosted x86

Last synced: about 9 hours ago
JSON representation

Self-hosting metacompiled Forth, bootstrapping from a few lines of C; targets Linux, Windows, ARM, RISC-V, 68000, PDP-11, asm.js.

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/larsbrinkhoff/lbforth
• Owner: larsbrinkhoff
• License: gpl-3.0
• Created: 2012-09-18T11:45:37.000Z (over 12 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2023-02-13T06:56:57.000Z (almost 2 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-12-14T21:07:00.621Z (7 days ago)
• Topics: 6502, 8051, arm, asmjs, avr, compiler, cortex-m, forth, interpreter, linux, m68k, metacompiler, msp430, pdp11, programming-language, risc-v, riscv, self-hosted, x86
• Language: Forth
• Homepage:
• Size: 18.9 MB
• Stars: 439
• Watchers: 31
• Forks: 113
• Open Issues: 41
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • License: LICENSE

Awesome Lists containing this project

README

        
( Subset of Forth94 )

This is a self-hosted implementation of Forth, which can regenerate

itself from Forth source code.  The bootstrapping process uses a

[metacompiler written in Lisp](https://github.com/larsbrinkhoff/forth-metacompiler) to target a

small inner interpreter and a handful of code words written in C.  A

new [metacompiler written in Forth](lib/meta.fth) generates an x86

executable using using [assembly language code words](targets/x86/nucleus.fth).

There are also ARM, RISC-V, Motorola 68000, PDP-11, and asm.js

targets.  There is a [cross

compiler](http://github.com/larsbrinkhoff/xForth) for 6502, 8051, AVR,

Cortex-M, MSP430, PDP-8, PIC, and STM8.

( Continuous integration )

The code is continuously built and tested in Linux, MacOS X, and

Windows using several cloud-based continuous integration services.

This is documented in [build.md](build.md).

( Further reading )

[INSTALL](INSTALL) \ How to build.  

[doc](doc) \ Classic (and recent) texts not related to this project.  

[lib/README](lib/README) \ Information about libraries.  

[targets/README.md](targets/README.md) \ Information about current and possibly future targets.

( Implementation guide )

The Forth kernel contains everything needed to read and compile the

rest of the system from source code, and not much else.  It's composed

of two parts: a target-specific file nucleus.fth containing all

primitive CODE words, and a [target-independent

kernel.fth](src/kernel.fth).  These two are compiled by the

metacompiler.

The [C target nucleus](targets/c/nucleus.fth) used for bootstrapping

has only twelve proper primitives.  There is also the COLD word which

compiles to main(), and four I/O words.

When the kernel starts, it jumps to the word called WARM.  This is

responsible for loading the rest of the system and entering the text

interpreter.  The first file loaded by WARM is [core.fth](src/core.fth),

which implements the CORE wordset.  Because the kernel only has a bare

minimum of words, the start of core.fth looks a little strange.