FORTH for the SHARP PC-E500 (S)

[robve]

(11-24-2021 11:33 PM)Helix Wrote:  Even if I rarely use complex numbers, it's certainly a nice addition!
Can I hope a text editor? Even a very simple one would be very useful to write and modify small definitions on the PC-E500.

Good point.

The list of things I am working on, listed not in any particular order:

- a small uudecoder in assembly loaded with a small BASIC bootloader program to load Forth500 directly into memory, instead of copying to and from RAM files with the current UUDECODE.BAS. If I can get the size down to under 1K then this method will also work for 32KB E500(S) that have no RAM cards or internal memory expansions.

- speed improvements with an even faster fetch-execute cycle (Forth500 is indirectly threaded) and similarly optimizing other parts of Forth500 assembly code that convert 16 bit addresses to 20 bit addresses.

- a text file editor in Forth.

- add more additions to extend Forth500, e.g. I've already added a new Forth500-specific implementation of the SEE word to decompile Forth, added a new gforth-like TRY-IFERROR-THEN-ENDTRY specific to Forth500, and added a new FF. word to display floating point values as proper fractions with an error within the currently set PRECISION. These additions are defined in separate Forth files in the Forth500 repo and are not derived from any other libraries (on the web or elsewhere).

- add some Forth programs or games, write from scratch or perhaps port existing games (with proper acknowledgment and open source licenses).

If you can't wait for a new editor in Forth500, there is also a text editor for the E500 in BASIC called edit500 available at: http://www.andrewwoods3d.com/pce500/

Yesterday I received the USB serial cable for the E500 from Takamatsu. I'm happy with the high quality construction and internals of this device, which means I can safely test the new uudecoder via the COM: port. I also ordered a 256KB FRAM card from the shop that I use as additional RAM F: file system storage (i.e. MEM$="S2", but MEM$="B" is not possible).

The complex number library is #60 in the FSL. The reason I mentioned this is not so much that complex numbers are a necessity, but it is good to know that these advanced Forth numerical libraries compile and run with almost no change to the original source code, with only minor modifications that should not be surprising. As you can see from my earlier notes, if an FSL library does not load, then it is likely because it is checking the obsolescent FLOATING-EXT environment.

In the meantime I have several other projects/work going on, so this will have to take a few days, if not a few weeks.

- Rob