Back in the day, I ordered a disk from one of the Apple II public domain distributors. On side 1 is 1978 6502 FIG-Forth. On side 2 is a Forth tutorial which contains this all-time gem:
Code:
SCR # 95
0 FRAME #86 THE FORTH COMMANDMENTS
1 1. I AM THY 'WORD', THOU SHALT SEPARATE ME BY SPACES.
2 2. THOU SHALT NOT TAKE NAMED VARIABLES AND CONSTANTS IN VAIN.
3 3. REMEMBER TO KEEP HOLY THY NESTING STRUCTURE, NESTING
4 COMPLETELY ONE INTO THE OTHER.
5 4. HONOR THY 'IF' WITH A 'THEN'.
6 5. THOU SHALT NOT KILL THY STACK, BY TAKING OFF MORE THAN THOU
7 PUT ON.
8 6. THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERATED ERRORS, BY USING COMPILING
9 WORDS OUTSIDE A DEFINITION.
10 7. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL AN UNTESTED ROUTINE INTO A LOOP.
11 8. THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, BY USING A 'WORD' BEFORE
12 IT IS DEFINED.
13 9. THOU SHALT COVET 'BEGIN...UNTIL' AND 'LOOP' TO EXECUTE AT
14 LEAST ONCE.
15 10. THOU SHALT COVET A SCREEN WITH 'FLUSH'. 'GO' SPREAD WORD.
And the translation:
Code:
SCR # 96
0 FRAME #87 SUMMARY OF FORTH RULES
1
2 1. ALL FORTH WORDS MUST BE SEPARATED BY AT LEAST ONE SPACE.
3 2. ALL WORDS MUST BE DEFINED BEFORE THEY CAN BE USED.
4 3. COMPILING WORDS MUST NEVER BY USED OUTSIDE A DEFINITION.
5 4. 'IF' MUST BE BALANCED BY A 'THEN'.
6 5. WHEN USING THE STACK, REMEMBER LIFO (LAST IN FIRST OUT).
7 6. WHEN 'NEST'ING, YOU MUST NEST EACH STRUCTURE COMPLETELY
8 WITHIN AN OUTER STRUCTURE.
9 7. NEVER PUT AN UNTESTED ROUTINE INTO A 'LOOP'.
10 8. USE 'VARIABLES' & 'CONSTANTS' WITH CARE.
11 9. REMEMBER THAT ALL 'BEGIN...UNTIL' & 'LOOP' STRUCTURES
12 EXECUTE AT LEAST ONCE.
13 10. REMEMBER TO SAVE YOUR SCREEN WITH A 'FLUSH'.
14
15 LET'S 'GO' WRITE A PROGRAM!
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