06-06, 13:00–13:50 (Europe/Brussels), Kleine Spoel
The FORTH programming language is very simple to implement on small machines. I the past this was often the first programming language available for a new microcomputer. Therefore a pioneering language.
It has also a long history of open-source implementations, dating back to the 1970s. In the early days of the IBM-PC, most free programs did not come with source code and even if they did, they could not be rebuilt without expensive compilers and/or assemblers. But FORTH could compile itself from its own source code, quite an advantage in those days.
I will give a small demonstration of the language itself and the way it can compile itself using very little resources. I will also give an overview of past and current open-source FORTH implementations.
In 1985 I started my study Electrical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology and I eventually got my PhD in 1997. I have always been tinkering with microcomputers and FORTH and I have been using Linux since 1992.
Today I work at Rambus B.V. in Vught, developing device drivers and test suites for complex cryptographic modules.