Re: [Flashforth-devel] building flashforth with avra?

[Frans-Pieter V. <ner...@xs...>]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for putting effort in keeping the documentation of flashforth up to date. Also introducing asciidoc for writing documentation was interesting. I found out that gitlab and github support this format. With your cheatsheet I tried to seperate the Atmega from the PIC information. Did not succeed yet. Probably that TEX is still the best solution for compact cheatsheets.

I'm learning FORTH playing along with flashforth on my arduino nano's. At my school I teach computer programming at 12/13/14 year olds students. The arduino IDE is what we use normally, as the examples and code are self-explanatory and easy to copy and paste. However, when I master FORTH enough I will introduce them to ForthForh. Learning to program in FORTH alongside an introduction about the inner workings of the microcontroller can form an interesting course.
On the internet dye's can be found of decapped atmega328p's that show eeprom, ram, GPIO. This physical "evidence" that memory is not just an abstract concept but really exist inside the microcontroller is a strong didactic argument. Likewise in biology, when you teach about cells students prepare samples and study them under a microscope. And in advanced classes you even experiment with dna, the program off life.
Decapping a microcontroller is mostly done with chemicals which makes it not very practical in class. However internet shows there are mechanical techniques to do this. Grinding the protective layer with find sandpaper and heating and breaking of the protective shell should be possible. So using the biological analogy, with FORTH you can reprogram artificial life. 

This perspective, focusing on the small and simple is the message of Chuck Moore's talk, minimizing energy is the key https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PclgBd6_Zs

Greets,

Frans-Pieter Vonck
> Op 06-01-2022 05:18 schreef Peter Jacobs <pe...@me...>:
> 
>  
> Mikael,
> many months have passed...
> 
> No, asciidoctor produces HTML files that can be part of a static web 
> site.  I have put the rendered files in a github repository so that they 
> appear at https://pajacobs-ghub.github.io/
> 
> These are essentially a port of the LateX documents, as they were in 
> 2016, 2017.  Quite a few little details need to be revised because I 
> have not kept up with things since then, however, the current state are 
> a good indication of how the revised documents might turn out.
> 
> The source asciidoc files are in the repository with the LaTeX files at 
> https://github.com/pajacobs-ghub/flashforth-docs
> Compared with the lateX source, I think that they will be much easier to 
> maintain.
> 
> Anyway, now that I have retired from the UQ payroll, I should find time 
> to update the docs. Unfortunately, that also means that I no longer have 
> access to eager thesis students who might be skilled in assembly language.
> 
> Regards,
> Peter J.
> 
> 
> On 13/4/21 1:04 am, Mikael Nordman wrote:
> > Peter, sorry for my slow response.
> >
> > FF Atmega is now transformed to be compiled with MPLABX and XC8.
> >
> > Does ASCIIDOC require some server side support? I am not familiar with 
> > it.
> >
> > It seems all peripherals, including flash and eeprom, are different on 
> > the 4809.
> > Maybe you have an eager student to take on the task ?
> >
> > BR Mikael
> >
> > On 2021-03-28 13:49, Peter Jacobs wrote:
> >> Mikael,
> >> It would be interesting to have FF running on Atmega4809.  I bought a
> >> few of those thinking that I would come back to doing some FF-related
> >> work this year (2021). It has been a while since I have had any time
> >> to play, so part of my plans included a refresh of the tutorial
> >> documents, possibly into ASCIIDOC source form.   I expect that such a
> >> form would allow them to be more easily included on your web site and,
> >> also, that it would be easier to copy and paste code from them.
> >> Cheers,
> >> Peter J.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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