BURSTING FORTH Now the Amstrad can run Forth, the programming language where the fundamental concept is the word - a bit like the Old Testament really. Forth has two massive virtues - it is very fast and comparatively easy to learn. The original Forth was a fairly dry affair, concerned with mathematical calculation, lists and the like. Consequently versions of the language for home micros tend to be somewhat customised for each machine. The Amstrad Forth has, obviously, commands for sound and graphics and also uses the tape as a kind of Virtual Memory System. The program has also been designed to be compatible with all Amstrad Roms and other extensions to Rom, so should work with the new 664 as well. For programming ease, there are such useful things as a cursor screen editor and a stack print-out. The manual is better than usual -with some effort you might be able to learn Forth with it although a separate Forth manual might still be a good idea. Tony Kendle , PopularComputingWeekly | 
