comp.lang.forth Frequently Asked Questions README An Introduction to the 7-part FAQ John D. Verne Last modified: $Date: 1999/08/12 01:07:01 $ An overview and pointer to the comp.lang.forth Frequently-Asked Ques- tions files. Please report all omissions or errors to John D. Verne . Published every Monday. ______________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. How to get the comp.lang.forth FAQ 3. Summary of the FAQ 4. How to contact the FAQ maintainers 5. How to submit changes to the FAQ ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Introduction This is a brief summary and description of the Forth programming language Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ) files. They are posted monthly to the comp.lang.forth, comp.answers and news.answers USENET newsgroups, and are updated (semi)regularly. This document is posted to comp.lang.forth every Monday. The FAQ is relatively complete and up-to-date, but is not an exhaustive treatise on the Forth programming language. It is meant to be a work-in-progress that addresses the many concerns of the Forth community, and tries to answer some of the common RFI's (Requests For Information) posted to the USENET newsgroup comp.lang.forth. If a reader finds any of the information contained in the FAQ incomplete, outdated or just plain wrong, they should feel free to contact the authors with a short explanation, and perhaps a correction. Often, when an author is unsure of a piece of information they mark it with brackets [like this]. Please see the section on ``How to submit changes to the FAQ''. If after you've parsed the FAQ for a specific resource you haven't found what you want, please feel free to post a clear question to comp.lang.forth. Most netizens will be more than willing to assist with your problem. Please note: Please read the "Flame bait" section in part 1 of the FAQ (General/Miscellaneous) before making certain assertions, or you may be responsible for starting yet another, same- old, "holy war". This document is released into the public domain. You may quote freely from it, as long as you play nice and credit the authors. This document is provided for your information only. Subject to change without notice. Serving suggestion, only. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners. May the Forth be with you. 2. How to get the comp.lang.forth FAQ There are several ways to get a copy of the comp.lang.forth FAQ-files. Via anonymous FTP o The Forth software repository (official distribution point) o The RTFM FAQ archives Via the World-Wide-Web o The Forth Interest Group (FIG) homepage o The Internet FAQ Consortium o The Ohio-State University hypertext FAQ server Via Usenet o comp.lang.forth o news.answers o comp.answers Via email o There is no automated email server at this time. If you are unable to obtain your own copy of the FAQ, send a message with "Forth FAQ request" in the subject line to the Forth FAQ Maintainers . Please make sure that your "Reply-to" email address is correct. If any email is returned due to an "unknown recipient" it will be tossed in the bit-bucket. 3. Summary of the FAQ The FAQ document is divided up into seven parts, each of which covers a specific aspect of the Forth programming language. Each part is discussed in brief, below. Part 1 of 7, General Forth Information o ftp://ftp.taygeta.com/pub/Forth/FAQ/forthfaq.1 o What is Forth, and from who's brow did it spring? o What standards are there? o Mommy, what's a "holy war"? o Who uses Forth, and why? o Maintained by Anton Ertl Part 2 of 7, Online Resources o ftp://ftp.taygeta.com/pub/Forth/FAQ/forthfaq.2 o What kind of Forth resources are available online? o Maintained by John D. Verne Part 3 of 7, Forth Vendors o ftp://ftp.taygeta.com/pub/Forth/FAQ/forthfaq.3 o Who offers Forth systems, consultation, services? o Maintained by L. Greg Lisle Part 4 of 7, Forth Systems o ftp://ftp.taygeta.com/pub/Forth/FAQ/forthfaq.4 o Where can I get a Forth for the ...? o What kind of commercial/free systems are available for ...? o Maintained by John D. Verne Part 5 of 7, Books, Periodicals and Tutorials o ftp://ftp.taygeta.com/pub/Forth/FAQ/forthfaq.5 o What kind of books are available about Forth? o Where can I learn more about Forth? o What kind of magazines publish Forth information? o Maintained by Chris Jakeman Part 6 of 7, Forth Groups & Organizations o ftp://ftp.taygeta.com/pub/Forth/FAQ/forthfaq.6 o What kinds of Forth organizations are there? o Maintained by Brad Rodriguez Part 7 of 7, ANS Forth o ftp://ftp.taygeta.com/pub/Forth/FAQ/ANSForth o What is the current status of ANS Forth? o Where can I purchase the Standard documentation? o What is the ANSI certification Process? o Maintained by Peter J. Knaggs 4. How to contact the FAQ maintainers Each of the documents that make up the FAQ are maintained by different authors, and specific queries or complaints should be directed to them. Contact information for each author is found in the preamble to each part. Please see the ``FAQ summary''. General comments, updates & questions about the FAQ (or Forth) can be directed to the FAQ Maintainers . When in doubt, an email to all the FAQ Maintainers is preferred. 5. How to submit changes to the FAQ To submit a change to the comp.lang.forth FAQ, send an email to faq@forth.org. The email should have a subject line in the following format: Subject: Changes to part [1-7] of the c.l.f FAQ The body of the email should contain the text you wish to change, with the replacement text directly below. Each of the FAQ documents cover a particular subject, so be sure to read that part, first, to find out what information is required. For example, the Systems (Part 4) FAQ will require, at the very least, a description of the Forth implementation, supported systems, contact information and perhaps a URL. Once the appropriate FAQ-file has been updated, you should be informed that your changes have been incorporated into the FAQ. Please bear in mind that you may not see published results until at least the 4th of the month; possibly over a month if the edit was made too late for the posting-bot to pick up the latest copy. Please note that links, URLs, phone numbers &etc. cannot always be verified for accuracy, and once the changes have been incorporated it will take another email change request to reverse any changes. Finally, one change request per email, please. This helps keep the overhead and confusion down. [End of Document]