Real programs

With real programs I mean programs about which the user need not be aware that they are written in Forth.

Starting a Forth often is a nerve wrecking experience.

For example, if you want to use iForth for the tingle-tangle's you have to handle environment variable, library directories and start up commands, unless you also want to load the tingle software by hand, leave alone the installation of iForth. However all the above is necessary before you can say to some one: "There you go! Tingle along!"

It can be different. I have written a flash programmer for an Elektor board. It sits on the Desktop as an icon (KDE linux). In order to flash the device, you look up the binary with the file viewer and drop it on the icon. Only if there are problems, they are shown to you. Under MS-Windows during the flashing one would show a moving mill for reassurance. MS-Windowers are not used to reliable programs.

For real programs it is necessary that Forth start up with a specific word, instead of the OK-loop, and that we can pass information to the Forth, like in this example the file to be flashed. The first is called a "turnkey mechanism". The second is "passing arguments" We don;t want all this code in the kernel of the Forth. Therefore let us see where we want to store the code to be loaded.