Forth interpreter on the iPad, iPod, and iPhone? (revisited)

[stavrogin]

Some time back someone had asked if Forth would ever be ported to the iPad
or iPhone. And, iirc, they were told this was impossible because Apple's
policies against allowing interpreters on their platform.

Recently, Gambit Scheme was ported to the iPad, iPod, and iPhone,[1] and
is even being distributed through the Apple Store.[2]

According to the release announcement, this demonstrates "that you can
distribute on the App Store paid applications written in Scheme and
containing an interpreter, something that wasn't clear with previous
versions of the App Store developer agreement."

I haven't kept up with Apple's developer agreement myself, but if this is
true doesn't it mean that a Forth interpreter could now also be ported to
these platforms?

---

[1] - http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.scheme/browse_thread/
thread/e8743289b5201cc9/986efc2effcdb1aa

[2] - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gambit-repl/id434534076?mt=8

[Jeff M.]

While Apple has relaxed their stance on interpreted languages some (mostly due to the use of Lua in video games put out by major companies like EA), I believe that Gambit, Chicken, and other languages can get by Apple a little easier because they compile to C, then build for iOS via Xcode. Forth could do this as well, obviously, but I think it might be a bit of work to make an implementation to that.

That said, I think a serial connector that could connect to the iPad/iPhone and allow me to program a bit of hardware in Forth on an iOS device that I could use out in the field could be highly advantageous and a lot of fun to work with. Hell, using Bluetooth to communicate might work equally well and not require additional hardware (or even being co-located within 20' or so).

Jeff M.

[Jed Davis]

"Jeff M." <mas...@gmail.com> writes:

> While Apple has relaxed their stance on interpreted languages some
> (mostly due to the use of Lua in video games put out by major
> companies like EA), I believe that Gambit, Chicken, and other
> languages can get by Apple a little easier because they compile to C,
> then build for iOS via Xcode. Forth could do this as well, obviously,
> but I think it might be a bit of work to make an implementation to
> that.

My understanding is that at least the Gambit Scheme release includes a
REPL (text interpreter). There were more details on comp.lang.scheme a
couple weeks ago. I'm not particuarly clear on the nature of Apple's
objections, but I think it has to do with interpreting programs obtained
over a network, rather than things the user keys in locally.

--
(let ((C call-with-current-continuation)) (apply (lambda (x y) (x y)) (map
((lambda (r) ((C C) (lambda (s) (r (lambda l (apply (s s) l)))))) (lambda
(f) (lambda (l) (if (null? l) C (lambda (k) (display (car l)) ((f (cdr l))
(C k))))))) '((#\J #\d #\D #\v #\s) (#\e #\space #\a #\i #\newline)))))

[ezf...@gmail.com]

安卓手機 免費的 Forth Interpreter

http://www.appchina.com/app/it.interfree.leonardoce.leoforthads/

1.可以 語音輸入

2.可以中文輸入

3.可以 load file


stavrogin於 2011年6月10日星期五UTC+8上午3時14分51秒寫道：

[Bernd Paysan]

ezf...@gmail.com wrote:

>
> 安卓手機 免費的 Forth Interpreter
>
> http://www.appchina.com/app/it.interfree.leonardoce.leoforthads/
>
> 1.可以 語音輸入
>
> 2.可以中文輸入
>
> 3.可以 load file

但是这是android的应用程序.

This is an Android App; Google's policy is much more relaxed.

> stavrogin於 2011年6月10日星期五UTC+8上午3時14分51秒寫道：
>> Some time back someone had asked if Forth would ever be ported to the
>> iPad
>> or iPhone. And, iirc, they were told this was impossible because Apple's
>> policies against allowing interpreters on their platform.
>>
>> Recently, Gambit Scheme was ported to the iPad, iPod, and iPhone,[1] and
>> is even being distributed through the Apple Store.[2]
>>
>> According to the release announcement, this demonstrates "that you can
>> distribute on the App Store paid applications written in Scheme and
>> containing an interpreter, something that wasn't clear with previous
>> versions of the App Store developer agreement."
>>
>> I haven't kept up with Apple's developer agreement myself, but if this is
>> true doesn't it mean that a Forth interpreter could now also be ported to
>> these platforms?

Back when I was at Dialog, Apple was pretty pleased by the battery monitor
program that did run on Linux and Mac OS X, and they asked me if I could
write an app later on iOS. My reply was that it wasn't possible due to
Apple's policies, for two reasons:

a) written in an interpreter
b) free software

A few months later the rules were changed. Though they never got that app,
because I left Dialog. IMHO, porting Gforth to iOS should be a piece of
cake, as the Android port paved the road; all you need is a small wrapper
that sends keyboard and touch events to the Forth thread, and allows it to
open an OpenGL ES context.

--
Bernd Paysan
"If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself"
http://bernd-paysan.de/