Thinking Forth is a book about the philosophy of problem solving and programming style, applied to the unique programming language Forth. Published first in 1984, it could be among the timeless classics of computer books, such as Fred Brooks’ The Mythical Man-Month and Donald Knuth’s The Art of Computer Programming.
Book Description
Many software engineering principles discussed here have been rediscovered in eXtreme Programming, including (re)factoring, modularity, bottom-up and incremental design. Here you’ll find all of those and more – such as the value of analysis and design – described in Leo Brodie’s down-to-earth, humorous style, with illustrations, code examples, practical real life applications, illustrative cartoons, and interviews with Forth’s inventor, Charles H. Moore as well as other Forth thinkers.
If you program in Forth, this is a must-read book. If you don’t, the fundamental concepts are universal: Thinking Forth is meant for anyone interested in writing software to solve problems. The concepts go beyond Forth, but the simple beauty of Forth throws those concepts into stark relief.
Table of Contents
- The Philosophy of Forth
- Analysis
- Preliminary Design/Decomposition
- Detailed Design/Problem Solving
- Implementation: Elements of Forth Style
- Factoring
- Handling Data: Stacks and States
- Minimizing Control Structures
- Forth’s Effect on Thinking