Starting Forth

by Leo Brodie

Starting FORTH by Leo Brodie
Starting Forth, the classic Forth language tutorial, is available here in its official online edition. Updates to the original Starting FORTH text include code examples that run on iForth and SwiftForth systems. Aficionados (and detractors) of the original book's illustrations will find most of them restored in this official edition by FORTH, Inc.
"…I hope this book is not so easy and enjoyable that it seems trivial. Be warned that there is heavy content here and that you can learn much about computers and compilers as well as about programming."
—Charles Moore, Forth's inventor
"A Forth to be reckoned with..."
—Leo Brodie, Author

About the book
Starting FORTH has been the classic Forth tutorial and textbook since its first release. Many experienced programmers have commented on its concise utility and completeness. Beginners will find a carefully planned introduction to the Forth programming language that will prepare them for other books like Forth Application Techniques and Forth Programmer's Handbook.
FORTH, Inc. and the book's author, Leo Brodie, thank the global community for its continued enthusiasm for this book. Many have sought a new copy, a used copy, or have asked for a reprinting. It is our pleasure to now present this online edition, with great appreciation for work done by Marcel Hendrix to generate a web version on which these pages were based.

Notes about this online edition
Changes made by FORTH, Inc. to Marcel's version were primarily related to internet coding standards and visual presentation. We also restored the book's original illustrations here, in most cases. The following notes are also relevant and important to those familiar with the original edition.

Notes by Marcel Hendrix
This transcript is not an exact reproduction. Forth code has been ANSified. All code should run on, at least iForth. Where necessary, statements that were valid in 1981 have been exchanged with statements more appropriate for 2003 (when this tribute was written)….
I have assumed a 32-bit, byte-addressing Forth with 8-bit characters. The address returned by WORD is assumed to be HERE. This allows the common trick of ALLOTing length of str CHARS after using WORD in order to compile string str to memory. Multitasking issues are ignored (e.g. no >TYPE, just TYPE). Division is symmetric, not floored, and two's complement is assumed throughout. iForth works splendidly with it, but other Forths will work too. Chapter 7 exploits extended uses of number conversion. Most Forths are broken in this respect, but iForth and SwiftForth support these neat features.
Other Forth Books and Classes
As noted above, once you have progressed from the beginning stages and look for more-practical and detailed information, several resources are available. The Forth books Forth Application Techniques and Forth Programmer's Handbook are a good next step. In addition, Forth classes and training are available at our offices or, by arrangement, at your facility.
Thank you again for your interest in this fascinating and powerful programming language and in Starting Forth

Paperback

Published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[D J Rout · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this one to see how thoroughly it informs on Rick Cook's Wizard's Bane and its sequels. Cook acknowledges this book's influence on the books, and also refers to it within the first novel itself.

In any case, my theory is that that it was picked both for the illustrations that provide strong visuals for the novels, and the use of 'words' as a term within Forth itself. The link between 'words' in the programming and 'words' as a component of magic in general, and specifically in the Wizardry series was, I think, the other reason Forth was chosen as the source language for magic in the books.

However, I'm not a good coder, so I didn't instantly get this book. It's difficult to learn how to code if you're just listening to the instructions in the book. But the programming itself has some quaint features from the day of expensive computing—having to code while thinking about how much RAM you have seems quaint to me; descriptions of 'stacks' take me back to a time even before i learnt BASIC where the position of the command in memory actually made a difference to how fast the code would execute. And, of course, you have to find a Forth compiler somewhere to make it all happen.

Worth a reading for a glimpse into the programming past.

[Taylor Penrose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it!

At one point I had the paperback. I have always enjoyed the author. He makes the subject approachable, interesting and fun.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Forth book for beginners.