so I have an old i386 netbook,

is gforth on openbsd suitable for learning the basics of forth?
Im no fan of RPN for math, though I reckon I should at least get the basics

my primary reason for looking into forth are:

[list=][*]it will run in some fashion on 6502x
[*]it allows a simple interactive environment with files/scripts and can act as a calculator program for advanced maths
[*]it is constructed out of user created 'words'
[/list]
I am also interested in alternatives that satisfy these ideals, though that list inst really exhaustive I have other considerations as well, those are the main ones that are prompting my interest in forth

scheme, lisp, C and lua are also among my list, maybe erlang or haskell

_________________
http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?

GForth is fine. Once you have the basics down, I'll recommend Tali Forth 2 https://github.com/SamCoVT/TaliForth2 (although I am totally biased) if you'd like to try Forth on real 65C02 hardware - it's designed to be a subset of GForth so that programs written in Tali Forth 2 will also run in GForth. It can also run in a simulator if you want to try it without setting it up for your hardware. You can also try writing your own Forth, which is an experience to be had at least once.

In regards to the RPN - you'll get used to it and may even come to like it. I have an RPN calculator that I use almost daily, so I'm already a convert. There is a measure of joy to be had when you get the arguments to your words just right and don't have to do any (or minimal, at least) stack juggling. Before that, though, there will be lots of stack juggling (SWAP, OVER, ROT, etc), and that's fine while getting started.

I think exposure to Forth is good for any programmer - as it operates so differently than modern languages do. It makes you think in new ways that are beneficial even when programming in other languages, but it's also simple enough to peek under the hood and see how it works inside.

Regardless of the path you take on your Forth adventure, we'd love to hear your thoughts, things you find interesting, or any questions you may have.

I used gforth heavily in the late 90's when I was in Australia, including on a floppy-only laptop on which I ran the floppy-Linux distribution muLinux.

While I originally learned Forth on a fig-Forth based system running on a single disk C64 system, learning Forth with a more modern "large desktop" style distribution seems like a good approach, since you can focus on the programming without spending a lot of time working around resource limitations.

You can edit files in the text editor you are used to and then tab over to the window running Forth and INCLUDE it ... You can explore on the command line and then go to the history file and copy and paste a successful definition into an INCLUDE file ... etc.

Now, Forth is good at coping with resource limitations, and resource limited systems are where we often see Forth still being used, but if working through something like "Starting Forth" and "Thinking Forth", I reckon it's fine to focus on getting a hang of the language and then you'll be in a position to work with a small Forth on a small system.

Well, don't leave us guessing. What on earth was it?

_________________
Machine room: http://www.floodgap.com/etc/machines.html

_________________
http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ lots of 6502 resources
The "second front page" is http://wilsonminesco.com/links.html .
What's an additional VIA among friends, anyhow?