Introduction to arrayForth™

This section is intended to acquaint you with colorForth and to give you enough information to install and operate arrayForth. It then goes on to explain the use of the arrayForth tools that are provided to facilitate the writing and testing of software for GreenArrays chips. The following outline serves as a table of contents for the documentation.

Getting Started

Information useful to someone who is considering use of arrayForth for the first time, or on a new platform; or who needs to check for recent changes.

Using arrayForth


In order to do anything at all, you will need to know how to communicate with the system and how to run programs:

arrayForth Self Test

Once you have familiarized yourself with the human interface and the Interpreter, and before you begin learning to use the Editor and other capabilities, we recommend that you perform a simple self test procedure to verify that the system worked as you received it. Take the following steps after executing the program and getting the arrayForth logo:
  1. Type softsim
  2. You will see the instruction level simulator display, with small characters, lots of numbers, and a control panel hinting area.
  3. Press the button hinted as "g", which is under your left middle finger when your hand is in home position.
  4. Observe that the simulator is now running. What you see going on will depend on which chip is supported by the system you are running, but the simulation should be going on with a self replicating code module making its way through the chip.
The above serves as our equivalent to the classical "hello world" but as a way to inspire more confidence we chose to do something a bit more demanding... and relevant.

Now, let's learn what's needed so that you can see your code running in softsim or real chips!

Working with Source

If you will be creating or modifing code for the F18 or the PC, or interpretive scripts for utilities, you will need to learn how to edit arrayForth source code and to manage collections of source code on mass storage.

Running the F18 Utilities

This section explains the operation of softsim and the interactive development environment for the F18 computers in the GreenArray Chips. Actual programming of the F18 and PC in arrayForth is described later.

Programming the F18

This section is a tutorial for those wishing to write code for our chips.

Programming the PC

This section focuses on PC programming solely to support the GreenArrays chips, rather than general purpose colorForth programming for the PC.

Useful Reference Documents

Sometimes it helps to have a "cheat sheet" handy; many of us, for example, keep chip posters taped to the wall where we work. The following colorForth cheat sheets, referenced in the above material, are collected here so you can find them easily: