b. Win32 means Windows 95, 98, or NT.
c. VB-like means similar to Visual Basic. Function names are modeled on Spirit.ocx.
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B
A pbForth Downloader
pbFORTH is a interesting, funky programming environment, but there are not many tools available for it. This appendix contains source code for a program downloader, written in Java. A
program downloader enables you to develop your pbFORTH programs in a text editor and download them all at once to the RCX. This means you have a saved copy of your program that is easy
to browse and modify.
The program downloader presented here is a "smart" one; it analyzes the responses from pbFORTH to see if any errors occur as the download is progressing. If pbFORTH complains about
something, the downloader tells you about it.
System Requirements
To compile and run this program, you'll need the Java Development Kit (JDK) version 1.1 or later (see
http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/ for the latest version). You'll also need the
Communications API, a standard extension API that enables Java programs to use the serial and parallel ports of a computer (see
http://java.sun.com/products/javacomm/).
Usage
The program downloader is called Download. It's very simple to use—you just need to supply the name of the Forth source code file. For example, you can download a file like this:
c:\>java Download thermometer.f
............................
c:\>
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Download prints a period for each line of the file it downloads to the RCX. If there's an error, you'll hear about it like this:
c:\>java Download thermometer.f
....
Line 5: Error: redefine isRunButtonPressed RbuttonState ? undefined word
c:\>
By default, Download uses the COM1 port. If you are not running Windows, or if you have your IR tower attached to a different port, you can tell Download to use a different port like this:
C:\>java Download -port COM3 thermometer.f
Source Code
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