CAMEL99 Forth was built as an educational exercise to learn how to cross-compile Forth to a different CPU using an existing Forth system. It has become a functional ISO/Forth system for the TI-99 computer that implements all of the CORE wordset, much of the EXTENDED wordset.

Rather than starting from scratch CAMEL99 uses CAMEL Forth by Dr. Brad Rodriguez for the hi-level Forth code. This has been "tweeked" and dare I say improved a little to better fit the very slow TI-99 computer. (More things written in Assembler was the answer). There are also a couple of ideas "borrowed" from GForth.

The low level primitives are written in Forth Assembler. The file TI99IOX.HSF contains the low level drivers for TI-99 Keyboard and Video display I/O. The final console interfaces are written in Forth including the screen scrolling code, just to demonstrate how it can be done in hi-level Forth. V2.69 has much faster scrolling by using a large buffer in un-allocated dictionary space.

In CAMEL99 Version 2 we squeezed enough disk support into the 8K kernel to have the word INCLUDED in the system. This let's the system compile Forth code from disk which means it can extend itself.

Users of TI BASIC who want to explore Forth might also find this system useful. With that in mind it has a string package that provides many of the features of BASIC including the use of a string stack and automated stack management. It also has an INPUT statement for strings and numbers. You will also find the TI BASIC graphics functions are emulated in the library file called GRAFIX. The instruction manual has been written to compare BASIC and Forth and there are example programs where the BASIC code is side by side with Forth for faster understanding for those new to Forth.

You can load all the "training wheels" with one command: INCLUDE DSK1.BASICHLP ... and the files compile into the system. This gives the BASIC programmer most of TI BASIC'S features, but it still requires learning Forth's way of thinking to use it.

The first place to look is the file FORTHITC.MAK which is a Forth file that controls making Camel99 Forth. This version can make a conventional program and a version that resides in SuperCart memory. (Editor Assembler Cartridge with 8K RAM installed)

• CAMEL99 begins with a TMS9900 Cross-Assembler written in HsForth, an MS DOS Forth system written in the 1990s. (The cross-compiler is XFC99Y.EXE)

• With the cross-assembler we define the primitive operations in the file 9900CODE.HSF.

• The Cross-Assembler is combined with a Cross-compiler, which gives us the tools to create the Forth dictionary, a linked list of structures in the TARGET memory image. This lets us give each primitive a "header" (name) in the dictionary with pointers to the code that they will run.

• The file HILEVEL.HSF uses the assembler primitives to create the high level Forth words in the target memory segment.

• As each piece is added to the TARGET system less of the Cross-compiler is used. It's truly an excerise in boot-strapping.

CAMEL99 is an indirect threaded Forth with the top of stack cached in Register 4 of the CPU. This has shown to give similar performance to the TI-99 system Turbo Forth, which is the benchmark system for speed on TI-99 but CAMEL99 uses less assembler code in the overall system. In comparison to legacy implementations like Fig-Forth CAMEL99 is about 20% faster in high-level Forth operations.

The system boots when you load the TI-99 binary program file called DSK1.CAMEL99 with the Editor/Assembler cartridge. When CAMEL99 starts, it looks for a file called DSK1.START. If found it loads that file as source code. Currently START "INCLUDES" the file DSK1.SYSTEM which compiles missing CORE Forth words that could not fit in the 8K kernel.

( INCLUDE, CELLS , CELL+ , CHAR+ , >BODY, CHAR , [CHAR] )

NOTE: Nested INCLUDE files are now working in V2.0.4

You can run this code on CLASSIC99, an excellent emulator, that runs on Windows. CLASSIC99 is available here:

http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/onesoft.cgi?1

Other emulators are available but have not been tested by the author.

Start the TI-99 computer with the Editor/Assembler cartridge. The folder DSK1 must be present on DSK1 of your computer or emulator. Select the run program file option from the menu and enter "DSK1.CAMEL99"

Wait for the SYSTEM file to compile. At the console type: INCLUDE DSK1.TOOLS -or- S" DSK1.TOOLS" INCLUDED

When Forth returns with "ok" type "WORDS" and press enter and you will see all the words in the Forth dictionary.

Press FNCT 4 (BREAK) to stop the display at any time.

It's that easy.

ALL the TI-99 source code files for CAMEL99 must be in TI-99 DV80 format. DV80 means a "DISPLAY" (text) file, variable records, with 80 bytes per record. Since the maximum record size in these files is 80 bytes, your source code lines cannot exceed 80 characters.

(COPIES OF THE LIBRARY SOURCE FILES FILES ARE IN folder /LIB.ITC as PC text files)

A simple way to create TI Files on a PC is to open the TI Editor (Menu Option 1) and start the editor (Menu Option 1). Using the Classic99 emulator on your PC you can paste text into the TI editor window and then save the file in the default DV80 format by following the on screen prompts. It's a quaint old fashioned editor but it works. Instructions on how to use the editor are in the manual here:

https://github.com/bfox9900/CAMEL99-V2/tree/master/DOCS

With your file correctly saved to DSK1 you can type S" DSK1.MYFILE" INCLUDED in the CAMEL99 console and the file will be loaded as source code. The current version of CAMEL99 V2 takes almost all of the 8K Binary space that is the current maximum program size generated by XFC99 cross-compiler. This means that all additions to the system must be loaded as source code at boot-time.

Source code will load/compile at the blazing speed of about 14 lines per second. :-)

Version 2.69 now has the "isn't unique" warning added to the compiler. This was left out to save space but as the author's coding skills improved space became available. If a duplicate word is found during compilation a warning is sent to the screen " isn't unique" and compilation continues.

• VDP library has been further simplified for speed.
• Review and corrections on demo programs DSK3.
• COLD now does a proper reboot of the system.
• WARM does system Initialization.
• LOADSYS does a WARM boot and INCLUDEs DSK1.START
• Source code re-partitioned to use FORTHITC.MAK file
• A version for SuperCart can be built by changing one value in the FORTHITC.MAK file.
• Two more words (! and DROP) now reside in 16bit "scatchpad RAM" for a speed improvement

What started as a maintenance update became something bigger.

The JIFFS timer had more overhead than needed. It is replaced with TICKS. TICKS uses the 9901 timer as its reference. TICKS is now used to create MS. MS resolution has been improved to ~10 milli-seconds .

• A return to a common address setting sub-routine to save space in the kernel. The performance difference is not worth worrying about.
• Some VDP routines now exist in memory as "leaf" sub-routines but are not in the dictionary.

• A fix was made to DOCON DOVAR DOUSER due my own misunderstanding. These words were compiled as CODE words with an ITC pointer in the CFA. WRONG! Each CFA of these words should have started with the actual code.

With the Executor words fixed we could reliably create a SUPERCART version of Camel99 Forth that resides in lower RAM, cartridge space when an Editor Assembler cart has the 8K RAM chip installed.

Commonly used code snippets are copied to hi-speed RAM at boot-up. We removed DROP and added DUP and + which are deemed to be more frequently used in the literature. Routines in 16bit RAM: EXIT NEXT ?BRANCH BRANCH ENTER LIT @ DUP +

• FORTHITC.MAK file was created for easier understanding of the file compiling order and compiler switches.

• Hi level Forth words and a few CODE words are now in HILEVEL.HSF.

  Other INCLUDE statements are still embedded in the HILEVEL.HSF file.

This version fixes a long standing bug in M+ that was detected by Ed of DxForth fame. D+ has been added to the 9900CODE.HSF file and M+ is now a Forth word. S>D has been changed to be a CODE word to speed up a the new M+ definition.

In lib.itc\TOOLS.FTH "WORDS" has been improved by using a WHILE loop

In DSK4.OBJ A Linking loader has been created that lets you load object files from the TI-99 Assembler into the 8K memory block at HEX 2000. DEF and REF declarations in the assembler code can be resolved by the loader so that you can link multiple Assembler files until the 8K is full.
The DEF declarations appear in the DEFS vocabulary as Forth constants. You can write your own wrappers as CODE/ENDCODE definitions or use the EXTERN: and EXTERN-PROG: directives in DSK4.EXTERNS to call the external code and safely return to Forth.

Completely knew VDP driver. Up to 20% faster on some things. Fixed improper interrupt masking during TMS9918 read/write operations

In the doc folder there is a new overall manual for the new user. There is also a Glossary for the Forth 8K kernel and secondary reference that is Glossary for the library files in the DOCS Folder

S" has ANS standard for compiling strings into definitions. BUT it is non-standard because it is an state smart word. Does different things for compiling and interpreting It now accepts multiple strings in interpreting mode as long they are input on the same line.

Example:
S" String #1" S" String#2 S" String #3" <ENTER>

returns three separate stack strings to the data stack.

ANSFILES, GRAFIX Faster number printing and text output.