Good memory Dave!
From Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge... "Forth is so named because in 1968 "the file holding the interpreter was labeled FOURTH, for 4th (next) generation software—but the IBM 1130 operating system restricted file names to 5 characters." Moore saw Forth as a successor to compile-link-go third-generation programming languages, or software for "fourth generation" hardware, not a fourth-generation programming language as the term has come to be used."
On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 2:41 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
On 01/19/2017 06:50 AM, Bob Flanders via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Agreed. I wrote a system in FORTH that monitored equipment at various sites around the USA for MCI. It was used for about 15 year. ('85-'00).
Quick trivia question. Why was it named FORTH, not FOURTH?
A five-letter filename limitation, if memory serves.
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA