OrionWorks
Sat, 03 May 2008 22:05:55 -0700
>From Robin van Spaandonk > The software already exists if I'm not mistaken, and is currently > used by astronomers for tracking the stars. Some of that software was designed decades ago with a programming language called FORTH. Originally designed in the early 1970s it was used as a way to interact with astronomical hardware remotely to address the needs of astronomers. I think KPNO (Kitt Peak Arizona) FORTH. KPNO FORTH was one of the original, or at least earlier versions. Charles Moore was involved in FORTH's evolution as a language. FORTH was adapted for many other purposes as well. FORTH is a weird language. It's like using a gigantic HP calculator – where reverse polish notation is used. It's based on a stack architecture. You PUSH and POP values onto a stack in order to perform algebraic, logic, and I/O functions. The Evolution of FORTH, including KPNO FORTH: http://www.forth.com/resources/evolution/evolve_2.html I learned to program in FORTH back in the mid 1980s when I worked at the Space Astronomy Lab (SAL), University of Wisconsin. I had the unique privilege of working on an astronomical project that eventually flew in several space shuttle mission missions years later in the 90s. The project was called "WUPPE", short for Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photopolarimeter Experiment. http://www.sal.wisc.edu/WUPPE/ I was hired on as a ground support computer programmer troglodyte. The software that went into the package to control the astronomical equipment, as well as most of the ground support s/w, was written using FORTH. The WUPPE package was next in line to blast off when three weeks prior to our mission the Challenger disaster devastated NASA. All that WUPPE training and simulation runs held at Huntsville, Alabama and Kennedy Space center had to be put on hold for years as NASA tried to sort things out. As a result I bailed out of SAL several months later. The salary was too low. I never got the chance to participate real-time in any of the actual shuttle launches involving WUPPE, but at least I could say I was involved in its preparation. Considering the language's simplicity FORTH was/is an amazing language. FORTH had its fanatics who claimed it could do anything. They were probably right. My professional life seems much more tame these days, working as a civil servant for the state of Wisconsin. The bennys are better. I seem to be focusing much of my current computer programming energies on learning Microsoft's .NET architecture and Visual BASIC, and possibly C#. I wonder if they still use FORTH at SAL. Regards Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks