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• The Final FORTH Video is Available - DOER / MAKE on the Microprofessor

  Michael Wessel • 03/13/2022 at 07:45 • 0 comments

  As promised, we finally reached the end of our Forth exploration - Goodbye!
  

• DOER / MAKE, ;AND and UNDO on the Microprofessor

  Michael Wessel • 03/12/2022 at 02:26 • 0 comments

  So, my whole Forth-learning endeavor started about 3 months ago when I couldn't wrap my head around how to write a recursive version of the Factorial function with the Microprofessor Forth. I quickly found Leo Brodie's excellent forthward-thinking "THINKING FORTH" book, and learned that this can be a use-case for DOER/MAKE. However, none of the 6 printed versions from the Appendix in the book would work out-of-the box on the Microprofessor, and what was worse, I only understood 20% of it! Having a PhD in computer science with quite a bit of background in programming languages, I couldn't accept this defeat by a > 50 year old language on an almost 40 year piece of Z80 hardware. So I had to figure it out, and it really took me down the FORTH rabbithole.
  

  I became serious about learning FORTH. Starting with Brodie's other excellent book, "Starting FORT", the meager MPF-IP Forth manual, and a lot of experiments and Trial&Error, here I am, 3 months later, with a fully functional version of DOER, MAKE, &AND, and UNDO!
  

  I will make one more MPF-IP Forth video in which I am going to share my findings - but here is already the code and examples as an exclusive preview to the upcoming video ;-) 
  

  Or, more readable: 
  

  : NOTHING ;
  : DOER CREATE ' NOTHING , DOES> @ >R ;
  VARIABLE MARKER 
  : (MAKE) R> DUP 2+ DUP 2+ SWAP @ 4 + ! @ ?DUP IF >R THEN ;  
  : MAKE COMPILE (MAKE) HERE MARKER ! 0 , ; IMMEDIATE
  : ;AND COMPILE EXIT HERE MARKER @ ! ; IMMEDIATE
  : UNDO ' NOTHING <COMPILE> ' ! ;

  If you have no idea what that means, why it looks like an Ancient Alien Language, or what it is good for, then maybe it will motivate you to learn FORTH yourself! It is very rewarding once you figure it out.
  

  Or watch my videos if you'd like to learn more about defining and compiling words, vectored execution, and similar black magic Death Star the Dark Side of the FORTH kind of stuff!

  Here is a use-case. However, direct recursive definitions (words) are only one possible application for (the vectored execution of) DOER/MAKE (but the one I was after for):
  

  DOER FAC 
  : SETUP MAKE FAC DUP 1 > IF DUP 1- FAC * THEN ; 
  SETUP
  3 FAC . -> 6  

   Or, even indirect recursion is possible:  

  DOER ODD
  DOER EVEN
  
  : SETUPODD  MAKE ODD  DUP 2 < IF ELSE 1- EVEN THEN ; 
  : SETUPEVEN MAKE EVEN DUP 2 < IF 1 SWAP - ELSE 1- ODD THEN ;
  
  SETUPODD
  SETUPEVEN 
  
  10 EVEN . -> 1
  10 ODD  . -> 0
  11 EVEN . -> 0
  11 ODD  . -> 1

  The Brodie book gives this example (slightly adjusted by myself), which also demonstrates :AND and UNDO:
  

  DOER JOE  
  : SETUPJOE MAKE JOE ." HI JOE " ;
  SETUPJOE
  JOE -> HI JOE
  
  FORGET SETUPJOE
  : SETUPJOE MAKE JOE ." HELLO JOE " 
                      ;AND ." NOW! ";
  SETUPJOE -> NOW!  
  JOE -> HELLO JOE 
  UNDO JOE
  JOE ->  

  Stay tuned for the video soon! 
  

• FORTH on the MPF-IP - Part 4 - Compiler Extensions & Recursion

  Michael Wessel • 02/27/2022 at 04:09 • 0 comments

  This time we are covering enough of FORTH to finally succeed at defining recursive words. The video is a bit longer this time (~1 hour), but it is done! If you want to learn how to extend the colon compiler by means of IMMEDIATE / compiling words, how to use COMPILE, LITERAL, and COMMA, and how to execute FORTH at compile time, then this video is for you. I also cover vectored execution, which lets you deal with forward references. We'll discuss various ways to implement a recursive version of the factorial function, and used self-defined defining and compiling words such as LABEL and REC to implement indirect recursion, using the classic ODD / EVEN example. I conclude by giving you some literature pointers and book recommendations. Maybe there will be one more (really final) video, in which I am going to share my version of the "standard" DOER / MAKE constructs - it wasn't easy to port this from Brodie's "Thinking FORTH"to the Microprofessor, so it is worth sharing. Next time though! So stay tuned for one more final video...
  

• FORTH on the MPF-IP - Part 3 - The Dark Side of the FORTH

  Michael Wessel • 02/21/2022 at 17:43 • 0 comments

  I know, I promised that I would demonstrate how to define (indirect) recursive words in this video, but the truth is - too much ground needs to be covered first, it would be incomprehensible otherwise! So, here we are going with the first "under the hood" video of the FORTH - THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORTH:
  

• FORTH on the MPF-IP - Part 2

  Michael Wessel • 02/13/2022 at 23:47 • 0 comments

  Here is my 2nd MPF-IP FORTH video; this time, we are taking a closer look at FORTH, and continue our exploration with do... loops, if else then, and write an iterative version of the factorial function - stay tuned for the next video!
  

• News from @x48x4b - machine & Sargon chess code

  Michael Wessel • 02/13/2022 at 23:44 • 0 comments

  I got another message from @x48x4b regarding his Microprofessor and the Sargon chess program; he writes: 

  "This is my machine from the 1980ies, in today's working condition: https://www.mycloud.ch/s/S00E8C2E8289DDE0E50B95028DFF9DB989ABBE58C10 It is an MPF-IP with the stock accessory boards IOM-MPF-IP and EPB-MPF-IP and 16k RAM. On the bread board section, I have installed an additional PIO, 4 motor drivers and 2 A/D converters. This was done in the 1980ies, to be used withe my Fischertechnik robot. Today, the accessory boards can occasionally be found on Ebay. The Sargon code for my MPF-IP is here: https://www.mycloud.ch/s/S007B47874D00053B738BFE0EA9720BCA96DFA769F "
  

  
  I take the freedom to post hist machine here - what a setup!! A dream Microprofessor: 
  

• FORTH on the MPF-IP - Part 1 (FORTH Basics)

  Michael Wessel • 02/06/2022 at 19:14 • 0 comments

  Alright, that took a while... confident by now enough in my knowledge of the FORTH I am to attempt to present & demo it :-) 
  

  This is part 1 of ~ 3 parts that I am planning. Originally, I only wanted to define a recursive "factorial" word! That took me down the rabbit hole - from dictionaries, immediate words, over defining to compiling words - finally, I managed to implement CALL as well as DOER/MAKE. It'll take 2 more videos until we get there.
  

  For now, here are the basics: FORTH background & history, installation, documentation & book, comments on meta-programming and "Forth in Forth", the stack, RPN (Reverse Polish Notation), HP calculators, simple user-defined words.  Enjoy and stay tuned to hear more about this ingenious "alien" programming language on the MPF-IP! 
  

• x48x4b is running Sargon Chess on his MPF-IP!

  Michael Wessel • 02/03/2022 at 19:46 • 0 comments

  Very cool info from @x48x4b - he ported the classic Sargon Chess to his MPF-IP as a Covid project. Just quoting his messages from the chat; this is too cool to be forgotten and left unnoticed in the chat, so turning this into a Log entry. @x48x4b wrote:
  

  "An MPF-IP (with accessory boards) can be used to run a chess program, to see how, check out the following mkv-video (watch it on VLC):

  https://www.mycloud.ch/s/S000DB711BCA0EE2949ADD0A240A68026A2650D987D
  

  I had to modify the memory organisation and took out the video section. The original Sargon was installed on a Wavemate Jupiter III. This had a Z80. But e.g. it had a video board, which my MPF does not have. Instead I wrote a routine to direct the output to the serial interface. What I did not change at all are the chess algorithms. My current version uses x1d2d bytes excluding stack. I will tidy it up and post it somewhen.

  It is the original IOM-MPF-IP experimental board from Multitech with a 8250 UART, a Zilog CTC and a bread board area. There are also sockets to add 3x2 kByte static RAM and other stuff. I purchased it in the 1980ies to drive my Fischertechnik Robot. Later the MPF-IP and the IOM-MPF-IP were stored away for more than 35 years on our attic. In the Corona lock down time, I reactivated it to have some fun. The reactivation turned out to be challenging because some of the chips had to be replaced, and some of the electrical contacts were bad. The goal of the project was to run the original Sargon chess program from Dan and Kathe Spracklen, which actually succeeded."
  

  
  Looking forward to the code being released!

  Sadly, my 2 MPF-IPs only have 4 KBs of SRAM each, and no expansion boards besides the printer. I just ordered some SRAM chips. Maybe I am going to build my own extension board with additional SRAM, speech synth, and UART. Will see! But first I need to get the Forth videos out... soon!
  
  
  

• MPF-IP BASIC Demo - Prime Numbers on the MPF-IP!

  Michael Wessel • 01/22/2022 at 23:35 • 0 comments

  My next video about the MPF-IP is online! This time, I am demonstrating the BASIC by computing prime numbers with the sieve of Erastosthenes. Also, I pulled the cassette recorder from the garage, so this is going to be fun too. Next, I am comparing the MPF-IP's BASIC performance with the ZX-81, running the same program. Which machine is going to be faster - ZX81 or MPF-IP?
  

• Attention - Your MPF-IP BASIC ROM IMAGE from the Internet is bad!

  Michael Wessel • 01/19/2022 at 19:26 • 4 comments

  Preparing for my demo video of the MPF-IP BASIC, another Microprofessor MPF-IP enthusiast I was chatting with on another forum just complained that his BASIC wouldn't print properly beyond 18 characters, and that certain BASIC statements documented in the manual don't work (SON, SOFF).
  

  I said, what do you mean? My BASIC just works fine, no issues with the printer, and SON / SOFF work flawlessly!

  He then pointed me to the BASIC ROM image he was using: 

  https://electrickery.hosting.philpem.me.uk/comp/mpf1/doc/MPF-IPlusBasicROM.zip
  

  I grabbed it and burned an EPROM, and indeed - this version must be a prior version and has these issues! For printouts, you'll have to limit yourself to 18 characters per line, else your printout looks as follows:
  

  Now, my original BASIC ROM is indeed working fine, has SON / SOFF, and printing works fine beyond 18 characters: 
  

  Seems the MPF-IP BASIC got a major update. There is no obvious version number encoded in the ROM image (at least not in ASCII).
  

  Comparing the ROMs a bit, I see that they even omitted the READY prompt in order to accommodate the patches and SON & SOFF... the new version goes to 0x1ff8, whereas the "buggy" version has 0x1ff3 as last address. So a few bytes more. They really used almost all of the 8 KBs in the 2764!
  

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