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How Moore Programmed Himself Out Of Recompiles
- Chuck Moore developed an interpreter to avoid repetitive compile/run cycles while calculating satellite orbits.
- He modified his Fortran program to accept card-based commands so he could adjust series approximation parameters interactively without recompiling.
Stack First Reverse Polish Notation Design
- Forth adopts Reverse Polish Notation so operations consume a data stack rather than parsing nested syntax.
- The interpreter pushes numbers to the data stack then calls an operator which pops its operands, making the language extremely syntax-light.
Dual Stack Simplifies Word Calls
- Forth uses two separate stacks: a data stack for operands and a return stack for call addresses to simplify word definitions.
- The return stack removes the need to shuffle return addresses and arguments, streamlining low-level word implementation.