Re: The strengths of FORTH

Robert Miller wrote:
> than as a reason for using FORTH.  Still I have recently been caught in
the 
> EDIT, COMPILE, LINK and DOWNLOAD loop doing hardware design verification

> testing using C/C++ under Windows NT and had FORTH been available on the

> target system it would have saved me a lot of time.
> 
Yes , there you can really gain something.
Also for software testing, I put pForth (Written in C) in an RTOS process
to aid in debugging other RTOS processes. It was really a big help
to be able to drive the RTOS and other processes from the command line
without
needing to recompile and load the whole image every time.


>> What has Forth done for you lately ?
> 
> So far very little, but stay tuned.  I am just starting to build my
circuit 
> board and am finding soldering 0.5mm lead pitch ICs and 0603 size
discretes 
> rather challenging to say the least.  ( I had to buy a stereo microscope
so 
> I can even see what I am doing.  I also had to build a 'third hand'  to
hold 
> the components in place while I solder them down. Even so, it takes me 
> several minutes per component - but I'm improving. )
> 
> So far, on the first of three boards, I have about 1/5 of the 400 or so 
> components down starting with the MSP430 and its 3.3 V regulator. I
copied 
> the LED and JTAG interface from TI's demo board and, to verify the 
> microprocessor and LF oscillator are working, have the LED flashing SOS
(any 
> SwiftX users will understand) and am able to turn the power converters
on 
> and off through SwiftX from my PC's keyboard.  I plan to assemble the
board 
> in functional blocks and to use SwiftX via the PC keyboard as a
verification 
> tool for each step, in the process building a suite of test functions
for 
> use when I get around to the other two boards
> 
> So far I have three of seven other DC to DC converters built and tested.
As 
> soon as I have the next converter assembled, I'll be able to install and

> power the FPGA and its configuration flash and to verify that it loaded
and 
> that I can read/write the registers therein.  Following that, I'll
install 
> the three SPI peripherals and verify that I can control them.  Then
comes 
> the display and finally the high speed LVPECL circuitry.  I have lots to
do 
> yet before I get to the actual operating software.
> 
> Bob Miller 
> 
> 
My leds are also blinking :-) I use Forth for various HW connected to a
PIC18F.
SPI, I2C , LCD displays, A/D conversion and so Forth.
It's really nice to be able to develop and test the HW&SW right on the
target,
without stopping it.


Mikael