SVFIG
Next Meeting - Forth Day
Saturday, November 17th
at
Cogswell College
1175 Bordeaux Dr.
Rooms 197A and 197B
Sunnyvale, CA  94089


If you would like to have meeting announcements e-mailed to you, send the message Subscribe SVFIG Meeting Agenda to: George Perry

Wireless Internet access is anticipated (though not guaranteed) at Cogswell, so bring your wi-fi enabled laptop.

Security Notice

When attending SVFIG meetings, please be aware that Cogswell College now locks its doors on weekends. To facilitate your entry to the building, there will be an SVFIG member stationed at the door from 9:45am to 10:15am to admit recognized SVFIG meeting attendees. If you are attending an SVFIG meeting for the first time, please bring along a printout of this agenda to identify your interest in Forth and to gain admission. If you arrive after 10:15am, there will be a telephone number posted for you to call to alert someone of your presence at the door. The front door will also be checked at intervals of 20 to 30 minutes to accommodate those without cellphones.

Do not under any circumstances allow any strangers to enter Cogswell. Those who are authorized admittance have key-cards.

Forth Day Agenda


Morning Session

09:30 --- Coffee and Networking

09:55 --- Chairman's Welcome - George Perry

10:00 --- F# Tutorial - CH Ting
"I will give a short presentation on the F# implementation and how to use it in Windows applications. I will demonstrate a number of applications to show how F# makes use of Forth in a Windows environment."

10:30 --- Audible Computing - Masa Kasahara
Masa will discuss his rationale for his Audible Computing project and how Forth might play an entirely different role in computer language history.

11:00 --- Forth Microcontroller for Education and Robotics - Glen Reuschling
Glen will report on his recent progress in building an FPGA-based Forth microcontroller with an integral USB host controller. He'll also present plans for using the controller in science education and robotics.

11:10 --- Portable Embedded Forth Application Development - Leon Wagner
"I will demonstrate the development, debugging, and testing of a very simple embedded application using the SwiftX development environment. I will then show how this application can be moved across a variety of target hardware platforms with minimum modification."

Leon will be bringing copies of the newly published Forth Programmer's Handbook - 3rd Edition for sale for $35 (tax included - cash or check only, no credit card purchases). Email Kevin Appert (forther -at- comcast.net) to reserve your copy.

12:00 --- BBQ Lunch - Catered by CH Ting

Afternoon Session

13:00 --- IntellaSys Session: - John Rible (Moderator)
  • SEAforth24's Interface to the PC - Jurgen Krehnke (VP Marketing)
  • Running Identical Code on Multiple Platforms without Conditional Compilation - Bill Muench
  • One Way to Execute Very Long Programs on a SEAforth Chip - Charley Shattuck
  • Port Streams: Telling Multiple Processors What To Do - Randy Leberknight
  • Music Synthesis with SEAforth24 - Michael Montvelishsky
  • Jeff's Ramble - Jeff Fox
  • IntellaSys Utility which Translates Both Ways between ColorForth and (ASCII) Machine Forth - John Rible - not presented due to lack of time

15:00 --- Fireside Chat - Chuck Moore

16:00 --- Adjourn

17:00 --- Dinner at Palace BBQ Buffett in Sunnyvale

How you can help SVFIG:

  • Bring your speaker and topic suggestions to every meeting!
  • Your input for November's Forth Day is always welcomed.

Coming to SVFIG in the future (hopefully):

  • Mathematica - Tom Gregory
    "I have been using Mathematica in a start-up and am still a newby at it. However, I could probably present a demo and discuss my reactions to how it compares with Forth."

  • WAV File and Soundcard I/O Software Using Win32Forth - Andy Korsak
    This software was written for amateur radio applications. Andy has suggested that it might be useful to look at his code in advance of his talk. Contributions to this work-in-progress would be welcomed. You can download and view his sound card software on the Win32Forth group (membership required), or here.

Please register your interest for these topics:

  • Viewing of Analog by Design shows hosted by Bob Pease - list of shows
  • The world's second Babbage Engine is coming to town. Maybe we can have a meeting at the Computer History Museum to take a look.
  • Review and discussion of recent postings on news:comp.lang.forth
  • Review and discussion of interesting Forth projects and many files at the Yahoo Win32Forth Group

Off the table:

  • There has been a lack of interest for a presentation by a representative from Gumstix.
  • There has been no success in contacting the author of Propeller Forth - written locally by Cliff L. Biffle
  • A tour of TechShop in Menlo Park is not planned at this time. If you would like to visit the facility, please make your own arrangements. Check out their talks, events, and instructional classes.

If you have anything you'd like to talk about in December,
please contact Kevin Appert.

Meeting Notes