SVFIG Monthly Meeting

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     Andreas will have copies of "Starting Forth" and the 'Book of the Month' for sale at the meeting for $10 a copy. Contact Andreas by email if you can't wait:
     andreas.wagner@lowfatcomputing.org

     The new gallery is here:
http://www.forthlibrary.net/

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      It's been working lately,   we hope we'll be streaming Forth Day to YouTube. The stream can be found at our YouTube account:
https://www.youtube.com/c/SiliconValleyForthInterestGroup/

      Please subscribe to the YouTube channel!

      Many previous meetings are available as well!

You can find more by using YouTube's search function:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=svfig

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SVFIG meets on the fourth Saturday of each month with the following exceptions:
     November's and December's meetings are on the third Saturday of the month.
     In May, there may be a break or field trip instead of the meeting.

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If you are planning to attend in person or by YouTube, please go to Meetup.com and register for the meeting.
   http://www.meetup.com/SV-FIG/

There is no need to register if you are not attending.

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NOTES FOR FIRST-TIME ATTENDEES:

1) Print yourself a map so you can find the building easily. If you get lost, call Kevin Appert at 650.678.0532
2) The SVFIG web site has additional online information including maps:
http://www.forth.org/svfig/next.html
3) Suggested parking is in the small lot near the intersection of Santa Teresa St and Lomita Dr. There is no need to feed any meters on the weekends. Do NOT park in any place marked with 24/7 restrictions! Most other places are okay on Saturdays. Read the signs!

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This page is for the schedule and coming attractions only, other details will be in the email announcement and online here: http://www.forth.org/svfig/next.html
Links, PowerPoint, PDFs, and source files from previous months' meeting are on the SVFIG website. All this and video from Forth Days are on the SVFIG website too! Several years of SVFIG meetings are on YouTube for your Forthish pleasure.

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Meeting Schedule

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Duration Start Time Title --- Speaker
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0:20          8:00          Coffee and a chat
0:10          8:20          Chairman's Welcome --- George Perry
0:20          8:30          Cells are Forth Computers --- CH Ting
0:30          8:50          Forth on the Gigatron TTL Computer --- Ken Boak
0:30          9:20          Forth-Based Radio DF --- Andrew Korsak
0:30          9:50          A Tale of Two Forths --- Joseph O'Connor
0:10          10:20          Break --- Order Lunch
0:40          10:30          Making "Standard Tapes" --- Jay McKnight
0:30          11:10          Squeezing Forth into 64 Bits --- Brad Nelson
0:30          11:40          Forth Robot Invasion --- Don Golding
1:00          12:10          Lunch
2:00          13:10          GreenArrays
1:00          15:10          Chuck Moore Fireside Chat
1:00          16:10          Adjourn -- Group Photo --- Dinner

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Cells are Forth Computers
CH Ting
*"Cells are computers. Code are stored in DNA, like disk drives. Code are transcribed to RNA, like RAM, edited, and then released to perform functions. Some RNA release microRNA, which cause transcription of RNA. MicroRNA are instruction set of the cell computer. Many RNA contain lists of microRNA, which are Forth high level code in cell computers."

Forth on the Gigatron TTL Computer
Ken Boak
*Ken will describe the Gigatron TTL Computer - an 8-bit machine built entirely from TTL, that is an unusual candidate for the Forth language.

Forth-Based Radio Direction Finder
Andrew Korsak
*Andy will describe his work-in-progress remote Radio Direction Finder reporting network. He is using Gforth on a Raspberry Pi and substantial progress has been made.

Making "Standard Tapes" Using F-PC Forth
Jay McKnight, Magnetic Reference Lab, San Jose, CA
<mailto:mrltapes@comcast.net>
"Using analog magnetic tapes for audio program interchange requires standardizing the tape flux. This can be done by standard physics lab methods, but most audio engineers have neither the equipment nor the knowledge to do it. So we record and sell "Standard Tapes" to carry this information. We use an oscillator, a tape recorder, and a control system   made with F-PC to turn the tape recorder on and off, to announce the tones, and to control the frequency, level, and duration of the tones to be recorded. As is usual in Forth, the final word is the program. I will describe a few of the zillions of words that we need to do this."

A Tale of Two Forths
Joseph O'Connor
*Joe will discusses both the JavaScript and Python implementations of Creole Forth.
Joe actually built the first version of Creole Forth in 1999 and presented it to the Maryland Forth Interest Group. In 2003 he cleaned it up and presented it to SVFIG for the first time. There are now four versions (1) Delphi/Lazarus component (2) Excel (3) JavaScript (4) Python. Joe will concentrate on the JavaScript and Python versions although you may see something of the other two Forths in passing.

The Gerund Programming Language, a Joy-like language for Dictation
Strick
Have a look at the web page ... http://wiki.yak.net/1133 (may be squeezed in after lunch)

Squeezing Forth into 64 Bits
Brad Nelson
*"Over the last decade 64-bit processors have largely displaced 32-bit, outside of embedded applications. Recently, operating systems have begun dropping support for running 32-bit processes on 64-bit systems."
     "A larger natural cell size, enough to fit whole Forth word strings into a single machine word, is an opportunity to simplify the design of Forth. I'll explore what this looks like in a small Forth, and touch on how OS hosted Forths fit into a world of ever growing complexity."

Forth Robot Invasion
Don Golding
*If you've followed the saga of Don's robot boards on the email list, you know all about it. If not, you'd better subscribe and catch up. Boards! Bring money!

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GreenArrays:

1. GreenArrays Status Update - 15 mins
2. Daniel Kalny's presentation - 53 mins plus Q&A
3. Recent work at GreenArrays - Remaining time till Chuck.

Daniel's title and abstract:

"Can you speak USB-ish?" Low-speed USB host implemented in GA144
With the aim to plug a USB keyboard into GreenArrays' evaluation board we have implemented a simple USB host in GA144 chip. We'll show the overall HW and SW design, key parts of code, and demonstrate functionality of the keyboard controller with Chuck Moore's etherForth display and a new etherForth editor.

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     We try to stick to the schedule, in particular on Forth Day. Remember that schedule slip is sometimes unavoidable. If a guy's on a roll, one wouldn't want to interrupt.

      Once in a while we shuffle things around, for whatever reason. It may be ill-considered, but it isn't malicious.

      If you're desperate to see a particular thing at a particular time please mention it and we'll try to accommodate you. If we get enough of this sort of request, we'll institute a system of graft and corruption in order to accomodate the well-healed among you.

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     The schedule above may be reformatted or line-justified but please transmit it verbatim and in its entirety or not at all. A link to this page is preferred.
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     No Newsgroup posts or other media distribution please! Contact me and we'll discuss it BEFORE you proceed.
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Coming Attractions:

     Dwight, when his hardware is working!

     Future Thoughts: --- Chuck Moore at EuroForth 2018
     We'll turn off the YouTube stream and watch ... YouTube

> Euroforth 2018 was held on the outskirts of Edinburgh - at a venue in sight of the
>famous Forth Bridges (now 3 of them!). As this year is recognised as the
>50th Anniversary of Forth, Charles Moore was invited as Guest of Honour.
>
> Chuck gave an after dinner speech - which has been captured on YouTube by
> Jaanus Poial.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpHdSpQJMW4
>

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      This page is produced by Kevin Appert, the SVFIG Program Chairman.
      This page is distinct from the SVFIG and FIG websites which are produced by the SVFIG Webmaster, Dave Jaffe. Comments and corrections are welcome.

Kevin's email: forther-at-Comcast-dot-net

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