wina ciforth
(ver 5.2)
Abandoned Freeware


wina is a WIndows NAtive customization of ciforth.  


Forth is "the language that will help you learn more about your computer than 
any other". It is one of the fastest languages in existence, both from the point 
of view of developing as that of running the software when you have finished 
developing it. It has been used for all sorts of purposes, but it shines 
particularly in robotics applications and programs that demand direct access of 
the programmer to the machine level of the computer. (It is an excellent tool 
for learning assembly language.) Its unique structure reduces the time needed 
in the editing-compiling-running-debugging cycle drastically and partly inspired 
other languages (like Logo) and improvements in development environments for 
other languages (like Turbo Pascal and QuickBasic). 


wina ciforth -- ISO Forth Language And Environment DESCRIPTION Forth is a tried 
and proven language for evolutionary ("check as you go") programming, ideal for 
rapid prototyping and experiments with hardware. wina is the 32-bit DPMI 
("WIndows") version of ciforth, (common Intel Forth), an interpreter environment, 
scripter and compiler for Forth. It supplies the CORE wordset of the ISO Forth 
standard, plus some essentials, i.a. file access and exceptions. Its power is 
multiplied by an extensive source library, that adds i.a. a decompiler and an 
integrated 386 assembler. OPTIONS wina without options starts an interactive 
system. Options are implemented by a simple mechanism through the source library, 
and hence are configurable. The most important ones are /H Print help, i.e. the 
option summary, version etc. Then exit. /E Load the electives , i.e. tools for 
interactive development. Then start the interpreter. /C FILE.FRT Compile FILE.FRT 
to the binary FILE.EXE Then exit. /A, /R Start the interpreter with the word 
REQUIRE available. DOCUMENTATION wina comes with html, ps and pdf documentation. 
Version 4.0.7 has about 5 pdf-pages per Kbyte of executable code. It documents 
all language features implemented and has a tutorial. Wina.html contains only 
the reference documentation, for easy click through. SOURCE The source for the 
compiler and the library are part of the package. ( wina.asm and forth.lab ). 
DIAGNOSTICS Uncaught exceptions will show the error number. Positive error numbers 
are ciforth-specific and explained in the documentation. Negative error numbers 
are OS-specific. A mnemonic message is fetched from the library file and displayed, 
if possible. CAVEAT For all Windows with 32 bit DPMI, i.e. from 3.11 (+32 bit) on, 
but tested on Windows XP. Windows plus Forth is crash-happy. AUTHOR Copyright 
(c) 2000-2003 by Albert van der Horst http://home.hccnet.nl/a.w.m.van.der.horst/
ciforth.html ciforth is made available under the GNU Public License: quality, but 
NO warranty.  


NOTE: Simply extract this archive to a directory of your choice to run.