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Arrays in Forth(forth.org)
36 points by tosh 4 days ago | 3 comments
eimrine 2 hours ago | parent [-]

What are any inevitable use-cases of the unindexable array in Forth?

astrobe_ an hour ago | parent | next [-]

There's none. It's kind of like the "hello world" or "empty program" example for arrays.

What this page shows is that the CREATE ... DOES> construct is similar to a closure, except it can only capture one address (or reference in languages that don't want you to dirty your hands with addresses ;-) and it is always a global symbol (like almost always in Forth). It is still useful to encapsulate implementation details, though. Some people have said it is a basis for objects, which is a bit euphoric IMHO. You know, "closures are the poor man's objects, and objects are the poor man's closures".

nine_k 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

An "unindexed array" is basically `char *` in C; the use cases are the same, I suppose.