Retro is a modern, pragmatic Forth drawing influences from many sources. It's clean, elegant, small, easy to grasp, and adaptable to many tasks.
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crc a61e1f7637 patch glossary tool to allow larger words.tsv source data set
FossilOrigin-Name: 981044535d7838de23111d2734a6ffb5867e4907d55a847536bb300688b6c1ed
2022-06-07 11:26:33 +00:00
.builds retro-unix: default package/list.forth now overrides d:add-header to track header source 2021-08-24 13:10:25 +00:00
benchmarks benchmarks: add a simple choose benchmark (#26) 2020-12-18 20:18:13 +00:00
doc rebuild .html documentation; correct a filename reference (Rx.md -> image/retro.muri) reported by Martin Hohmann-Marriott 2022-06-03 10:41:52 +00:00
example update socket-server example 2022-04-11 16:22:43 +00:00
ffi-testing ffi is working now 2022-02-15 14:40:15 +00:00
future small cleanups, remove redundant file 2021-09-10 17:55:07 +00:00
image add var-s 2022-05-07 14:20:46 +00:00
interface add start of block: words (setting block file, reading a block) [for compatibility w/ilo&napia] 2022-06-02 17:49:17 +00:00
man nga-c: -t now takes a command line argument for the file name 2021-06-01 13:42:30 +00:00
package fix compile time warning about no code blocks (relating to optional extensions support) 2022-02-01 14:30:53 +00:00
rel/python run black to reformat Python files 2021-01-20 17:41:34 +00:00
security remove old public keys 2022-01-31 10:20:32 +00:00
tests add test images for each instruction excluding i/o 2021-06-01 19:00:48 +00:00
tools patch glossary tool to allow larger words.tsv source data set 2022-06-07 11:26:33 +00:00
vm add start of block: words (setting block file, reading a block) [for compatibility w/ilo&napia] 2022-06-02 17:49:17 +00:00
.gitattributes github: add file type overrides for linguist 2021-01-27 13:40:59 +00:00
array-todo.txt update a:to-string 2021-10-29 10:06:04 +00:00
build-wip.sh nga-c: add retro-wip.c for implementation changes from issue #66 2021-06-11 19:36:38 +00:00
BUILDING.md add BUILDING overview document 2022-01-07 14:20:16 +00:00
GNUmakefile add start of block: words (setting block file, reading a block) [for compatibility w/ilo&napia] 2022-06-02 17:49:17 +00:00
LICENSE move retro.muri source data into retro.muri; bump copyright year in license text 2022-01-04 12:05:47 +00:00
Makefile add start of block: words (setting block file, reading a block) [for compatibility w/ilo&napia] 2022-06-02 17:49:17 +00:00
Makefile.python nga-python: add Makefile.python target to package, upload for pypi (#23) 2021-01-18 15:43:33 +00:00
ngaImage add var-s 2022-05-07 14:20:46 +00:00
README.md backport a:index from retro/napia (no longer needs to create a curry function when used) 2021-12-22 14:21:16 +00:00
RELEASE-NOTES ffi is working now 2022-02-15 14:40:15 +00:00
retroforth.el add retroforth.el emacs mode 2021-03-30 20:41:40 +00:00
todo.txt make a public-facing todo list 2022-01-17 13:32:05 +00:00

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      88  `8D 88'     `~~88~~' 88  `8D .8P  Y8.
      88oobY' 88ooooo    88    88oobY' 88    88
      88`8b   88~~~~~    88    88`8b   88    88
      88 `88. 88.        88    88 `88. `8b  d8'
      88   YD Y88888P    YP    88   YD  `Y88P'

Retro is a modern, pragmatic Forth drawing influences from many sources. It's clean, elegant, tiny, easy to grasp, and adaptable to many tasks.


Features

  • Open Source (ISC License)
  • Portable (runs on a MISC-style virtual machine)
  • Small source & binaries
  • Builds into a single, self contained binary
  • Sources in literate format, using a Markdown variant

Quick Start

For most systems (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, macOS, Linux):

make

You will need a standard C compiler and make.


Executables

Binaries will be placed in the bin directory.

The primary executable is retro. This is used for running the examples and the Atua (gopher) & Casket (http) servers that power retroforth.org.

The retro executable embeds the image into the binary, making it trivial to copy and deploy.

This interface layer also extends the language with many new words and vocabularies, adds scripting, files, floating point, and more.

The retro executable can handle a variety of command line arguments which are covered in the manpage, but the most common ones are:

retro

Starts the listener, a basic REPL for interactive use.

retro filename

This will run the code in the specified file, then exit. This is also used to run programs as shell-type scripts using a header line like #!/usr/bin/env retro.

retro -i -f filename

This will run the code in the specified file, then start the listener.


Literate Sources

Source files for use with retro are written with code in fenced blocks:

commentary here

~~~
code here
~~~

Anything outside the fenced blocks will be ignored.


Documentation

The primary documentation is in RETRO-Book.md (and the formatted epub.) Additional notes can be found in the doc directory.


Alternative Implementations

In addition to the C and Python implementations, this source tree includes additional implementations in C#, Nim, JavaScript, and Pascal. These are not as well tested or as feature complete as the main implementations, but are provided for your use if the standard implementations will not suffice.


Learn More

Visit http(s)://retroforth.org to learn more and follow along with development.


Patreon

I have a Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/_crc for those that want to financially support development. All funds raised via Pateron are put into development related expenses (server expenses, app store fees, hardware).

Thanks go out to my current and past patrons:

  • Kiyoshi YONEDA
  • Krinkleneck
  • Rick Carlino
  • Scott McCallum
  • Bartels Jon Randy
  • Nuno
  • Eli
  • Brad S