Re: Forth bootstrapping framework - Bootforth

"Nickolai Leschov" <nleschov@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:g6s397$kac$1@xxxxxxxxxxx
jpb wrote:
Do you think it's possible to make BootForth run on an embedded system
with 1.5K of RAM and 32K of ROM?
At the current moment, I don't think so. It depends on a couple of
standard C functions which need something like a library.
Embedded processors (microcontrollers) nowadays are normally programmed in
C. (sometimes, C++ even) Therefore, there is standard library. I hope that
there would be just a few things to consider to be able to run Forth on a
microcontroller; here's the ones that come to mind:
1. Using malloc/free is impractical, even though it may be implemented in
standard library.
2. IO device is a serial line, which may be used by the application as
well. Again, this may or may not be accounted for in the implementation of
the standard library.
But why, should you want to run BootForth on an embedded system with
those limitations?
I think Forth could fit such systems. I would like to be able to use
umbilical Forth on such system. Currently I'm stuck with C's
edit/compile/test cycle. In-curcuit debugging is not available and
programming (writing binary code) is not instantaneous and is apart from
running. I used to use Forth in the past and I'd like to use Forth's
interactivity in my embedded project.

probably it would fit into the ROM, but the RAM is too small
Maybe I should do some tweaks. I don't yet have the whole picture of how
BootForth could be used in such environment but I think that umbilical
Forth will be very useful for embedded environment if done right.
and it assumes the whole memory space for it's own, which means that it's
not ROM-able.
I didn't get it. Could you please elaborate on this?

I like your approach that Forth is made for tweaking and extending it. I
liked to use Forth, and thought about rolling my own, but never got to the
point where I can do it myself. Now I don't have to!

Best regards,
Nickolai Leschov

I didn't look at BootForth's code but I think that this system can't work on
micros with Harvard architecture. These microcontrollers usually have lots
of flash memory and little RAM (as described). So You need Forth with
modifications according to which memory your code is addressing.
Look at FlashForth, amForth...

Best regards,
Maki



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