Read me first 4tH version 3.62.2, 2014-02-22
4tH is basic framework for creating application specific scripting languages. It is a library of functions centered around a virtual machine, which guarantees high performance, ease of use and low overhead.
But in the meanwhile 4tH has acquired a reputation as an educational tool. Its simplicity makes it perfectly suited to learn Forth, from which it has been derived.
This package is an attempt to suit both audiences. It contains instructions how to modify the package in order to fit your own requirements. 4tH in its current form is a calculator for simple teletype applications. All its basic building blocks (compiler, interpreter, decompiler, loader and saver) can be called with a single line of C. No initialization necessary.
On the other hand there are simple instructions to compile the example applications, which allows you to compile and run very large 4tH programs (80386 or better). We also included a host of sample applications, like an adventure game, a line-editor and a Forth calculator.
It is impossible to answer every thinkable question with documentation. NEVER EMAIL THE PEOPLE WHOSE SITE YOU GOT THIS FROM! THEY DON'T KNOW EITHER! INSTEAD, MAIL TO:
Or visit our website:
http://thebeez.home.xs4all.nl/4tH/
We welcome all feedback, so don't hesitate if something is not completely clear to you or if you want to make a point. This feedback has made 4tH into what it is today and we want to thank all who took the effort to think and comment on 4tH.
There are several different Makefiles for different platforms. The default is Linux. If that one doesn't work for you, you can resort to the following variants:
Makefile.UNX - a very vanilla Makefile, most likely to work on a host of different *Nix platforms.
Makefile.BSD - a vanilla Makefile, targetted at BSD-like platforms like HP-UX, NeXT, etc.
Makefile.OSX - a Makefile for the Apple OS/X platform.
Makefile.COH - a Makefile for the Coherent 4.x platform.
Makefile.NAN - a Makefile to the Linux Ben Nanonote platform.
Makefile.W32 - a Makefile (for cross compilation) using the MinGW compiler for the MS-Windows(32) platform.
Makefile.DOS - a Makefile (for cross compilation) using the DJGPP compiler for the MS-DOS platform.
If you happen to compile 4tH on 64-bit architectures, you will find that some functionalities don't work as advertised. In that case, perform the following procedure:
cd sources
cp include/* .
make clean
make
This will make the executables fit for your 64-bit machine.
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Copyright 1997,2014 J.L. Bezemer