"Hello World" using ForthCMP

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ForthCMP compiles programs written using either one's favorite ASCII text editor or in the traditional Forth "screen file" format. Here is the version of "Hello world" using ForthCMP:

100 MSDOS

: MAIN ." Hello World!" CR ;

INCLUDE FORTHLIB

END

The first line of the program, 100 MSDOS, is a directive for the compiler saying to generate an MSDOS COM format program (rather than EXE format, or one for an embedded processor or a device driver) with a return stack size of 100 bytes.

The function MAIN is the word (function) which is invoked when the program is run. In the program here, it simply prints the message.

The INCLUDE FORTHLIB directive causes the ANS Forth (or 83 Standard Forth) library to be loaded. Libraries in ForthCMP are maintained in source code format, however they load extremely fast. Like any good linker/library system, only functions which are actually needed by the application will be compiled. The END directive signals the end of the source code.

Here's what happens when we run the compiler:

>4c hello

ForthCMP Version 2.30S
Copyright (C) 1995 by Thomas Almy.
Forth kernel (C) 1984 by Laboratory Microsystems, Inc

31124 Bytes available

LOADING FORTHLIB

FILE: hello.4th
TYPE           FUNCT  016AH  (362)      CS:TYPE        FUNCT  016AH  (362)
EMIT           FUNCT  0158H  (344)      of             DATA   0155H  (341)
CR             FUNCT  0149H  (329)      (.")           FUNCT  0137H  (311)
MAIN           FUNCT  0124H  (292)      bye            FUNCT  011FH  (287)
BASE           DATA   0109H  (265)      R0             DATA   0107H  (263)
S0             DATA   0105H  (261)      DP             DATA   0103H  (259)

Final Memory location  0177H  (375)
0 TOTAL ERRORS
1% MEMORY USED

>

The memory map (which can be disabled) shows the entry points for all the compiled functions. The generated HELLO.COM file is 117 bytes long. When we run the program we get:

>hello
Hello world!

>

For a more examples, download ForthCMP and check the DEMO directory.

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