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<p><br/><br/>
The stacks are a defining feature of Forth. They are are used
to pass data between words and to track return addresses for
function calls.
<br/><br/>
RETRO always has two stacks, and optionally (if built with
floating point support) a third.
<br/><br/>
<br/><br/>
This is the primary stack. Values are placed here, passed to
words which consume them and then return results. When I
refer to "the stack", this is the one I mean. Learning to use
the stack is a crucial part to making effective use of RETRO.
<br/><br/>
<br/><br/>
Values can be placed on the stack directly.
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;Example&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;Action&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;--------------&nbsp;|&nbsp;----------------------------------------&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;`#300123`&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;Push&nbsp;the&nbsp;number&nbsp;`300123`&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;stack&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;`$h`&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;Push&nbsp;the&nbsp;ASCII&nbsp;code&nbsp;for&nbsp;`h`&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;stack&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;`'hello_world`&nbsp;|&nbsp;Push&nbsp;a&nbsp;pointer&nbsp;to&nbsp;a&nbsp;string&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;stack&nbsp;&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;`&amp;fetch`&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;Push&nbsp;the&nbsp;address&nbsp;of&nbsp;`fetch`&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;stack&nbsp;|</tt>
<br/><br/>
<br/><br/>
RETRO provides a number of <strong>shufflers</strong> for reordering items
on the stack.
<br/><br/>
Some of the most common ones are:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;Word&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;Before&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;After&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;-------&nbsp;|---------&nbsp;|&nbsp;--------&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;dup&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#1&nbsp;#1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;drop&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;swap&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#2&nbsp;#1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;over&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;#1&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;tuck&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#2&nbsp;#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;nip&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|</tt>
<tt class='indentedcode'>|&nbsp;rot&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;#3&nbsp;|&nbsp;#3&nbsp;#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;|</tt>
<br/><br/>
You can use <span class="tt">push</span> and <span class="tt">pop</span> to move values to and from the
address stack. Make sure you <span class="tt">pop</span> them back before the word
ends or RETRO will crash. These two words can not be used
at the interpreter.
<br/><br/>
There is also a special one, <span class="tt">reorder</span>, which allows for big
stack restructuring. This is slow but can be very useful.
<br/><br/>
As an example, let's say we have four values:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>#1&nbsp;#2&nbsp;#3&nbsp;#4</tt>
<br/><br/>
And we want them to become:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>#4&nbsp;#3&nbsp;#2&nbsp;#1</tt>
<br/><br/>
Doing this with the basic shufflers is difficult. You could end
up with something similar to:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>swap&nbsp;rot&nbsp;push&nbsp;rot&nbsp;pop&nbsp;swap&nbsp;</tt>
<br/><br/>
But with <span class="tt">reorder</span>, you can just express the before and after
states:
<br/><br/>
<tt class='indentedcode'>'abcd&nbsp;'dcba&nbsp;reorder</tt>
<br/><br/>
<br/><br/>
If you need to quickly empty the stack, use <span class="tt">reset</span>.
<br/><br/>
<br/><br/>
To find out how many items are on the stack, use <span class="tt">depth</span>.
<br/><br/>
<br/><br/>
You can display the stack by running <span class="tt">dump-stack</span>.
<br/><br/>
<br/><br/>
RETRO provides <strong>combinators</strong> for working with data order on
the stack. These are covered in a later chapter and are worth
learning to use as they can help provide a cleaner, more
structured means of working.
<br/><br/>
<span class="h3">Tips</span>
<br/><br/>
The stack is <strong>not</strong> an array in addressable memory. Don't try
to treat it like one.
<br/><br/>
<br/><br/>
This stack primarily holds return addresses for function calls.
You normally won't need to directly interact with this stack,
but you can use <span class="tt">push</span> and <span class="tt">pop</span> to move values between the
data stack and this.
<br/><br/>
<br/><br/>
If you are using a build with floating point support a third
stack will be present. Floating point values are kept and
passed between words using this.
<br/><br/>
See the Floating Point chapter for more details on this.
<br/><br/>
<span class="h2">Tips</span>
<br/><br/>
I recommend keeping the data stack shallow. Don't try to juggle
too much; it's better to factor definitions into shorter ones
that deal with simpler parts of the stack values than to have
a big definition with a lot of complex shuffling.
<br/><br/>
<span class="h2">Notes</span>
<br/><br/>
The standard system is configured with a very deep data stack
(around 2,000 items) and an address stack that is 3x deeper.
In actual use, your programs are unlikely to ever need this,
but if you do, keep the limits in mind.
</p>
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