05:18:12
##forth
<NetNoodler>
I think I have reached the point in writing my PDP-8 Forth that is easier to add new words by hand-compiling Forth pseudocode than writing in machine language. I *think* this uses less memory, which is always a concern on PDP-8s.
17:38:45
##forth
<NetNoodler>
Snag: the convention for storing names on the PDP-8 is in SIXBIT, two characters per word, with a zero byte at the end. Unfortunately, the sixbit coding for "@" is ALSO zero.
17:40:47
##forth
<NetNoodler>
Forth must be the only language in which "@" is significant...
17:43:31
##forth
<identity>
it really is not
17:44:18
##forth
<NetNoodler>
The assembler pseudo-op "TEXT" generates sixbit coding, but insists on putting that zero at the end.
21:11:57
##forth
<xentrac>
NetNoodler: maybe Objective-C? I forget
21:12:02
##forth
<xentrac>
you'd think @ would be used more often
21:12:25
##forth
<xentrac>
oh, Macintosh Pascal used @ to mean "address of", so you could get pointers to local or global variables