Threaded code: Difference between revisions

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==History==

{{Original research section|date=February 2020}}

The common way to make computer programs is to use a [[compiler]] to translate [[source code]] (written in some [[Symbolic language (programming)|symbolic language]]) to [[machine code]]. The resulting [[executable]] is typically fast but, because it is specific to a [[computer hardware|hardware]] platform, it isn't portable. A different approach is to generate [[instruction set|instructions]] for a [[virtual machine]] and to use an [[interpreter (computing)|interpreter]] on each hardware platform. The interpreter instantiates the virtual machine environment and executes the instructions. Thus the interpreter, compiled to machine code, provides an abstraction layer for "interpreted languages" that only theneed interpreterlittle mustcompilation to conform to that layer (compilation may be compiledconfined to generating an [[Abstract Syntax Tree]]) or even need no compilation at all (if the layer is designed to consume raw source code.)

Early computers had relatively little memory. For example, most [[Data General Nova]], [[IBM 1130]], and many of the first [[microcomputer]]s had only 4 kB of RAM installed. Consequently, a lot of time was spent trying to find ways to reduce a program's size, to fit in the available memory.

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</syntaxhighlight>

This is called '''direct threaded code''' (DTC). Although the technique is older, the first widely circulated use of the term "threaded code" is probably James R. Bell's 1973 article "Threaded Code".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bell|first=James R.|title=Threaded code|journal=Communications of the ACM|year=1973|volume=16|issue=6|pages=370–372|doi=10.1145/362248.362270|s2cid=19042952 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In 1970, [[Charles H. Moore]] invented a more compact arrangement, '''indirect threaded code''' (ITC), for his Forth virtual machine. Moore arrived at this arrangement because [[Data General Nova|Nova]] minicomputers had an [[indirection bit]] in every address, which made ITC easy and fast. Later, he said that he found it so convenient that he propagated it into all later Forth designs.<ref>Moore, Charles H., published remarks in Byte Magazine's Forth Issue</ref>

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&add

push:

*sp++ = *(**ip + 1) // look 1 past start of indirect block for operand address

jump *(*++ip) // advance ip in thread, jump through next indirect block to next subroutine

add:

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# Go back to step 1

This can be represented more precisely by:

<pre>

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<ref name="Busby_2018">{{cite web |title=The RPL inner loop explained |author-last=Busby |author-first=Jonathan |work=The Museum of HP Calculators |date=2018-09-07 |url=https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-11358.html |access-date=2019-12-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803201320/https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-11358.html |archive-date=2023-08-03}}</ref>

<ref name="Wickes_1986">{{cite web |title=Data processing system and method for the direct and indirect execution of uniformly structured object types |author-last=Wickes |author-first=William C. |website=uspto.gov |date=1986-05-30 |url=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=8&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&S1=((%22Hewlett+Packard%22.ASNM.)+AND+Wickes.INNM.)&OS=AN/%22Hewlett+Packard%22+and+IN/Wickes&RS=(AN/%22Hewlett+Packard%22+AND+IN/Wickes) |access-date=2019-12-27}}</ref>

<ref name="Wickes_1988">{{cite conference |title=RPL: A Mathematical<!-- also seen as: "Mathematics". Check actual publication's cover. --> Control Language |author-last=Wickes |author-first=William C. |editor-first=Lawrence P. |editor-last=Forsely |date=1988-10-01 |orig-date=14–18 June 1988 |conference=Proceedings of the 1988 Rochester Forth Conference: Programming Environments |volume=8 |publisher=Institute for Applied Forth Research, Inc., [[University of Rochester]] |___location=Rochester, New York, USA |isbn=978-0-91459308-9 |oclc=839704944 <!-- |doiurl=https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/534949--> }} (NB. This title is often cited as "RPL: A Mathematics Control Language". An excerpt is available at: [https://web.archive.org/web/20230328115142/https://www.hpcalc.org/details/1743 RPLMan from Goodies Disk 4][https://web.archive.org/web/20220419184811/https://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/docs/programming/rplman.zip Zip File])</ref>

}}

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== External links ==

* Anton Ertl's explanatory page [http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/forth/threaded-code.html What is Threaded Code?] describes different threading techniques and provides further references.

* [httphttps://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net/ Thinking Forth Project] includes the seminal (but out of print) book Thinking Forth by [http://home.earthlink.net/~lbrodie/ Leo Brodie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051113041339/http://home.earthlink.net/~lbrodie/ |date=2005-11-13 }} published in 1984.

* [http://www.forth.com/starting-forth/ Starting FORTH] online version of the book Starting FORTH by [http://home.earthlink.net/~lbrodie/ Leo Brodie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051113041339/http://home.earthlink.net/~lbrodie/ |date=2005-11-13 }} published in 1981.

* Brad Rodriguez's [http://www.bradrodriguez.com/papers/moving1.htm Moving FORTH: Part 1: Design Decisions in the Forth Kernel] covers threading techniques in depth.