Forth Programmer's Handbook provides a reference source for the most common features of the integrated software development systems based on the Forth programming language. It assumes at least an elementary knowledge of the Forth language, consistent with having studied Starting Forth and attended a Forth programming course, or the equivalent. If you are new to Forth, we encourage you to begin by reading Starting Forth carefully and working the problems at the end of each chapter.

This book is primarily intended to describe how a programmer can use Forth to solve problems. This is a rather different goal from explaining how Forth works, but it is a practical necessity for the new user of a Forth system. This manual is also organized to serve experienced programmers who need to check some point quickly.

This manual does not attempt to cover all Forth commands. Indeed, no book can do that as Forth is an extensible system, and no two implementations need or use identical components. What we can do is provide a detailed exposition of the most valuable and most commonly used features and facilities of the fundamental system from which your application begins.