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42 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
42 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
# Alee Forth
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Alee is a concise Forth implementation written in modern C++ that aims for portability, minimal program size, and execution efficiency.
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## Cross-platform compatibility
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Alee relies on the C++17 standard. Alee *does not* rely on operating-system-specific functions, making portability easy.
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The goal of portability extends down to microcontroller targets with kilobytes of memory. See the `msp430` target for an example of a port.
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System-specific functionality is obtained through a `sys` Forth word. This word calls a user-supplied C++ function that implements the necessary (or any additional) functionality.
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## Forth compatibility
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Alee implements a large majority of the "core" and "core extension" [word sets](https://forth-standard.org/standard/core). Implementation is tracked in `compat.txt`, with missing words listed below. Fundamental words are built into Alee (written in C++); the rest of the implementation is in `core.fth` and `core-ext.fth`.
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Running Alee without `core.fth` or `core-ext.fth` passed as arguments will leave you with a minimal word set. The `standalone` target will package the `core.fth` dictionary into the program.
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**Missing** core features:
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* Pictured numeric output conversion (e.g. `<# #>`)
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**Missing** core extensions:
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```
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.R HOLDS PAD PARSE PARSE-NAME REFILL RESTORE-INPUT S\" SAVE-INPUT SOURCE-ID U.R U> UNUSED WITHIN [COMPILE]
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```
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Alee aims for compliance with common Forth standards like Forth 2012 and ANS Forth. Compliance is tested using a [Forth 2012 test suite](https://github.com/gerryjackson/forth2012-test-suite). Supported test files are in the `test` directory, with tests for unimplemented words commented out.
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## Building
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Alee requires `make` and a C++17-compatible compiler. Simply running `make` will produce the `libalee.a` library and a REPL binary named `alee`. Note that this binary has no built-in libraries; these can be passed in by calling `./alee core.fth core-ext.fth`.
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There are other build targets:
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* `small`: Optimize for minimal binary size.
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* `fast`: Optimize for maximum performance on the host system.
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* `standalone`: Builds the core dictionary (`core.fth`) into the binary.
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* `msp430`: Builds a binary for the [MSP430G2553](https://www.ti.com/product/MSP430G2553) microcontroller. The `standalone` target must be built first for the core dictionary.
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If building for a new platform, see `Makefile`, `types.hpp`, and `state.hpp` for available configuration options.
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