Imagine a scripting environment with a well-integrated FORTH engine.
Wouldn't that be a great way to "drop down to a lower level" to code a few parts differently to achieve far greater speeds? Forget compilation. And it's portable.
October 2000 - no, wait, make that Minotaur, at https://www.equi4.com/minotaur/
Some pointers...
A Wiki Server dedicated to Forth Information
http://hammer.prohosting.com/~uho/wiki/html/Forth/FrontPage.htm
Thoughtful Programming and Forth - thought provoking essay on programming, Forth and current practices in IT field, by Jeff Fox
http://www.ultratechnology.com/forth.htm
FORTH - A Language for Interactive Computing - seminal paper (1970) on Forth, by Charles H.Moore and Geoffrey C. Leach, available thanks to Jeff Fox
http://www.ultratechnology.com/4th_1970.html
The Evolution of Forth - a Forth history
http://forth.com/Content/History/History1.htm
Moore Forth - Comments on Forth by Chuck Moore, its inventor (quotes Compiled by Jeff Fox)
http://www.ultratechnology.com/moore4th.htm
Color Forth - a fascinating view on Chuck Moore's minimalistic tendency:
http://www.ultratechnology.com/color4th.html
http://www.ultratechnology.com/1xforth.htmPerformance comparison of a few 32-bit x86 Forth's:
http://www.forth.com/Content/Products/SwForth/SFbench.htm
http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/forth/performance.htmlGood reference page on Forth research:
http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/projects/forth.html
A pretty complete list of Forth compilers on Taygeta:
http://www.taygeta.com/forthcomp.html
FAQ on comp.lang.forth:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-lang/forth-faq/part1/