Forth

#1

Post by beardyw » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 8:15 PM UTC

Forth
xkcd.com

Re: Forth

#2

Post by ajhenrydev » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 9:18 PM UTC

Can someone explain for me?

Re: Forth

#3

Post by spott » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 9:22 PM UTC

ajhenrydev wrote: post #2

Can someone explain for me?

Forth I assume uses reverse polish notation: arguments before the operator.

3 4 +

for example, would return 7.

Re: Forth

#4

Post by HFguy » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 9:23 PM UTC

ajhenrydev wrote: post #2

Can someone explain for me?

Forth uses RPN so the "verb" is last.

That is, you provide the data first (I and Forth) and the command (heart) last.

Re: Forth

#5

Post by lhakedal » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 9:47 PM UTC

Saw the same joke with Postscript many years ago.

Re: Forth

#6

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 9:47 PM UTC

HFguy wrote: post #4

ajhenrydev wrote: post #2

Can someone explain for me?

Forth uses RPN so the "verb" is last. That is, you provide the data first (I and Forth) and the command (heart) last.

[deleted]

Re: Forth

#7

Post by dchest » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 9:53 PM UTC

FORTH LOVE? IF HONK THEN

Re: Forth

#8

Post by e12e » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 9:53 PM UTC

ajhenrydev wrote: post #2

Can someone explain for me?

A different way to say the same: in forth, words get pushed on the stack, and popped from the stack by words that take arguments:

    code           stack
    I Forth love

    Forth love     I

    love           I
                   Forth

    ; love presumably pops
    ; subject, object args
    ; from stack - and does something 
    ; perhaps prints as side effect

Re: Forth

#9

Post by zabzonk » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 10:03 PM UTC

spott wrote: post #3

ajhenrydev wrote: post #2

Can someone explain for me?

Forth I assume uses reverse polish notation: arguments before the operator. 3 4 + for example, would return 7.

> would return 7

more pedantically, it would push 7 onto the stack

Re: Forth

#10

Post by daureg » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 10:08 PM UTC

ajhenrydev wrote: post #2

Can someone explain for me?

I found https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page quite useful for that.