Thinking Forth: A Language and Philosophy for Solving Problems

As a teacher/programmer I found this to be a phenomenal piece of work. One of the hottest items in programming today is refactoring - it's here. Object orientation, modularity, top-down, bottom-up, it's all here. You can't read this book without becomming a better programmer regardless of the language. But you don't want to just read it. Work through the examples, follow the logic until you understand it - really understand it. You don't use Forth? Doesn't matter. The principles of problem analysis and good program construction are language independent. Try this one - you'll like it. Learning to function in the sparce yet luxuriant Forth universe will change the way you program.

Thinking FORTH is as much about philosophy of problem solving and programming style as FORTH. Concepts presented in this '84 publication were light years ahead of their time. OOPs concepts, including data encapsulation, modularity and overloading are explained in simple understandable terms (although with different terminology). Emphisis is on eligance, flexibility and reusability, written in Leo Brodie's unique style. (NO YOU CAN'T HAVE MINE!)

FORTH isn't for everyone, the use of Reverse Polish Notation, stack operations, and language extensibility can be daunting. But, between Starting Forth as a tutorial and this work providing conceptual insight, there is a path for self study that can bring you along to intermediate level with a reasonable investment of time. Add the FORTH Programmer's Handbook, the ANSI spec and a freeware FORTH package for your flavor of OS (including PalmOS, UNIX, WINDOWS, MSDOS, just about everything has a version) available via the net, and you've got everything you need to explore and learn this powerful, extensible, and compact language.

This is the second book on Forth that should be read by any person interested in learning Forth. After finishing the examples in Brodies first book, read this one to pick up on how a Forth programmer solves different programming problems. You will find that the methods learned are applicable to all languages but especially useful in the iterative style that is Forth.