Gforth Manual
4.6 Review - elements of a Forth system
To summarise this chapter:
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Forth programs use factoring to break a problem down into small
fragments called words or definitions.
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Forth program development is an interactive process.
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The main command loop that accepts input, and controls both
interpretation and compilation, is called the text interpreter
(also known as the outer interpreter).
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Forth has a very simple syntax, consisting of words and numbers
separated by spaces or carriage-return characters. Any additional syntax
is imposed by parsing words.
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Forth uses a stack to pass parameters between words. As a result, it
uses postfix notation.
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To use a word that has previously been defined, the text interpreter
searches for the word in the name dictionary.
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Words have interpretation semantics and compilation semantics.
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The text interpreter uses the value of
state to select between
the use of the interpretation semantics and the compilation
semantics of a word that it encounters.
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The relationship between the interpretation semantics and
compilation semantics for a word
depend upon the way in which the word was defined (for example, whether
it is an immediate word).
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Forth definitions can be implemented in Forth (called high-level
definitions) or in some other way (usually a lower-level language and
as a result often called low-level definitions, code
definitions or primitives).
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Many Forth systems are implemented mainly in Forth.
