Kenosha Reuse Discussion Board > SALEM, WI
> Commercial
> Industrial
> Used
> No Warranty
> Rsc-forth V1.6 eprom for rockwell R6501 and/or R6511
Rsc-forth V1.6 eprom for rockwell R6501 and/or R6511
and the original Rockwell RSC-FORTH User's-Manual
Still working with machine-language using pencil and paper to write my programs, but using structural programming. Each of my subroutines (about 300 for that project) had a unique number for identifying. I hated to push keys 7 times for each subroutine, and so I wrote a little parser which I only had to feed with the executive subroutine-numbers in a row. This worked pretty fast, and I had the idea to professionalize this as a software development tool.
But then BYTE published a story about FORTH, and this told me somebody else had already done that kind of job.
Meanwhile I had developed my own Microprocessor boards with the Rockwell R6511 (a R6501 with ports without internal pullup resistors), and Rockwell announced the R65F11 (used on Space-Shuttle, as I have been told) with FORTH on chip, and later FORTH ROMs for the R6501/11 have been available. When I got these ROMs, I put them into my own Microprocessor board, and, what a surprise, it worked immediately without any problem! And just before Rockwell sold its Microprocessor-business to Conexant, I bought a license from Rockwell to use and sell RSC-FORTH on my own. And here it is!
FORTH is quite different from more conventional languages such as BASC, FORTRAN, PASCAL (or C). It creates a computing environment with unique strengths, tools, and styles.
FORTH keeps all definitions in a Database, called DICTIONARY.
Compiled FORTH code is extremely COMPACT in memory, even compared to machine language.
FORTH code is recursive, suited to multi-tasking applications, and can be programmed in RAM or ROM.
FORTH is STRUCTURED. IF and ELSE control structures, and DO, UNTIL, and WHILE loops are provided; all of these can be nested to any practical depth.
FORTH uses a STACK and its associated POSTFIX NOTATION, also called Reverse Polish Notation (RPN).
FORTH is INTERACTIVE. Testing is immediate, because almost all FORTH words can be executed directly as commands from the keyboard.
FORTH debugging seldom requires examining any code except the single definition being tested.
FORTH allows easy MACHINE ACCESS, unlike most other high-level languages. All of memory and I/O (data ports and control registers) can be addressed. And FORTH runs fast enough that usually no assembly language subroutines are necessary.
If full machine speed is needed, RSC-FORTH includes an assembler.
FORTH code is extremely TRANSPORTABLE between machines. The same FORTH program (if it is not using I/O) can run on this Microprocessor board or on a Laptop or PC.
