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Will there be Forth on the Propeller II? — Parallax Forums

Will there be Forth on the Propeller II?

LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
edited 2012-11-15 11:52 in Propeller 1
I suppose the easiest would be for Dave Hein as all he has to do is to wait for a GCC compiler, but I am just wondering if TachyonForth and PropForth have given any thought to this being an eventual upgrade.

Comments

  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    edited 2012-11-12 17:55
    Well that's obviously going to depend on the individual creators. Forths are by their nature fairly easy to build up, and on the software end P2 will be very similar to P1. I suspect a lot of familiar objects and applications are going to be ported very quickly, while others, particularly hacks meant to enhance functionality which will be native on P2 like more I/O and RAM, will lag or never be ported. I suspect PropForth might end up in the latter category but I'd expect Tachyon to get ported pretty quickly.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2012-11-12 18:40
    I would think both Tachyon and PropForth would port to the P2 quickly and eagerly. The biggest change impacting the port would be the expanded HUB space meaning a bigger space for a resident dictionary. From there, integrating the new hardware features into the existing Forths can happen. I personally am looking Forthto exciting things with the P2.
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2012-11-12 18:52
    One aspect of Tachyon's design is that its kernel can be generated in a simple one step one pass method just using the Spin tool as is. This makes it easy for anyone to make a change to the kernel and recompile it but it is especially quick and easy for me to do so. As I have mentioned throughout my posts, P2 is lined up in my sights, I've studied what information there is, planned the hardware, and almost as soon as I have a sample I will have a functioning prototype and kernel the same day. Progressive enhancements will be made as P2 features are explored and incorporated. The Google source code is a live document so there is no need to wait for a "release", what I've got, you've got.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2012-11-15 11:52
    I am just wondering if TachyonForth ... have given any thought to this being an eventual upgrade.

    Yes. Propforth on the prop 2 will likely be propforth 6 (propforth 5.3 is final version for prop 1). From what we know about prop 2, it apears porting should be straighforward.

    Propforth 6 is not yet official, but would target the prop2. Based on what we know of prop2, the port from prop1 to prop2 should be straight forward. we had hoped for more cores, but more memory will do. the primary difference then would be adding an option of traditional software multitasking to cogs that are not concerned with deterministic execution.

    so the answer is yes, thought has been given, plans have been made, design is underway, just waiting on the hardware. but don't tell anyone this is still secret, like forth itself
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