Forth is one of the strangest computer languages out there that has any solid following apart from a few crazed academics. Whilst Forth's time has arguably come and gone, it is still a viable solution for a few problems. In my day job I frequently have to play with strange microprocessors that I have no real idea how they work or what their architecture is, the managers just want them working. Installing Forth allows me to do just this, and poke around in the internals of a strange processor from the keyboard in real time, without the interminable edit - compile- link - locate - debug thing that C forces upon you.
Despite the fact that the author mentions Forth exactly _once_, this book is about writing a Forth system from scratch. His target is the Z80, if you understand assembly you could target *anything*. The author is idiosyncratic and full of good ideas (like most Forth coders). Very readable and easy to get hold of secondhand, if you study this book you will begin to understand the Zen of Forth. Of course the dialect is archaic, pre F83, but the Zen remains the same. ( )