ANS compatible 32-bit Forth quite suitable for use in writing practical applications in Forth. It is fast because it uses an optimizing native code generator and is quite functional due to the many libraries available, and the price is right, it is free.
Some major features that make it a worthwhile system.
- The complete Source Code is available and it’s 100% written in Forth itself.
- Generates inline optimized machine code so it is very fast, comparable, and faster in some cases to some of the commercially available Forth, but it is free.
- It has a well-developed library of code available to handle many extensions such as TCPIP, Graphics, Archive (.zip), Records, Structures, OOP, Math, Assembler using Infix Notation, Disassembler, Linked List, Hashes, Encryption, Window Interface, Debugging features, Database access, Strings, File Access, Vocabularies, OS Interface and use of DLL libraries.
- It has module capability, which allows a library to have selected public WORDS while keeping the noise words private, also beneficial in preventing re-definition of words that cause problems later.
- Available for Windows and Linux. Although all libraries are not applicable to Linux.
The only negative issue so far is that the comments are in Russian, at present I’m working on translating Russian to English. I will also work on fixing some libraries that are incompatible with one another. I would also like to create Linux-compatible libraries similar to the Windows version since my plans are to migrate to Linux and away from Windows.
So far this Forth is quite capable so I will be working with it for the foreseeable future to create a development system to my personal taste. Its main competition is Vfx Forth and MinForth both are 64-bit systems which is a desired advantage.