138 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
138 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
## RETRO FORTH
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RETRO is a modern, pragmatic Forth drawing influences from many
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sources. It's clean, elegant, tiny, and easy to grasp and adapt
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to various uses.
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Features:
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- Open Source (ISC License)
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- Portable (runs on a MISC-style virtual machine)
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- Small source & binaries
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- Builds into a single, self contained binary for easy deployment
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- Sources in literate format, using a Markdown variant
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## Quick Start
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For most systems (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, macOS, Linux):
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make
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You will need a standard C compiler and `make`. The `retro-ri`
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binary requires (n)curses, but you can ignore any build/link
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errors by doing:
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make -kis
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If you are building an an older Linux system and are running
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into problems, try using the alternative Makefile:
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make -f Makefile.linux
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## Executables
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Binaries will be placed in the `bin` directory.
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### retro
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The primary executable is `retro`. This is used for running the
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examples and the Atua (gopher) & Casket (http) servers that
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power forthworks.com.
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The `retro` executable embeds the image into the binary, making
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it trivial to copy and deploy.
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This interface layer also extends the language with many new
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words and vocabularies, adds scripting, file i/o, gopher, and
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floating point math support.
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The `retro` executable can handle a variety of command line
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arguments:
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retro -i
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Starts the *listener*, a basic REPL for interactive use.
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retro -c
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Starts the *listener*, a basic REPL for interactive use. With
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`-c`, it runs in character breaking mode, where input is run
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as soon as a space or enter is encountered. This requires RETRO
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to have been built with TERMIOS support.
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retro filename
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This will run the code in the specified file, then exit. This
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is also used to run programs as shell-type scripts using a
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header line like `#!/usr/bin/env retro`.
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retro -i -f filename
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This will run the code in the specified file, then start the
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listener.
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retro -c -f filename
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This will run the code in the specified file, then start the
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listener in character breaking mode.
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retro -h
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Displays a summary of the command line arguments.
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Source files for use with `retro` are written with code in
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fenced blocks:
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commentary here
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~~~
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code here
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~~~
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Anything outside the fenced blocks will be ignored.
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### retro-repl
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This is a basic `read-evaluate-print-loop` for interactive use.
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It's intended for quick tests and as an easy starting point for
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new interfaces.
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The `retro-repl` interface looks for the RETRO image (normally
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`ngaImage`) in the current working directory. If not found,
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this will use an embedded copy.
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### retro-ri
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`retro-ri` is an interactive, curses based interface inspired
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by the interface used around 2001 with RETRO4. It provides an
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output area and then an input area at the bottom. Input is
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processed as it is entered, and the top stack items appear to
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the right of the input.
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It's useful for playing around with new ideas and seeing how
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the stack works.
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## Commercial Versions
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I provide proprietary versions of RETRO for iOS and macOS.
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These use a custom, dual pane editor-based environment and
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some platform specific words and extensions. They do use the
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same image and virtual machine as `retro`, `retro-repl`, etc.
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iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/retro-forth-12/id1170943580?ls=1&mt=8
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macOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/retro-forth/id1317494014?ls=1&mt=12
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The macOS application is also availble for free, though the
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source is not published.
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Proceeds from these are used to pay for various project related
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expenses (servers, domains, hardware upgrades, and an
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occasional cup of tea).
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## Alternative Implementations
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This source tree includes implementations in C#, JavaScript,
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Pascal, and Python. These are not officially supported, but
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are provided for your use if the C implementation will not
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suffice.
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