Banana - Dupont cables

Received some Banana plugs

and created some cables with Dupont connectors 

What i don't like at the banana plugs that i received is the lack contrast between the black and blue plugs.

Audio transformer - breadboard friendly

Some time ago i ordered some cheap 600:600 ohm audio transformers to use them for some experiments. To easy wiring up an experiment it is possible to plug a transformer direct in a breadboard. The audio transformers fit exactly in a 3*4 grid on a breadboard. (With normal mains transformers I would not recommend this as i don't think it is safe to use high voltages or mains on a breadboard.)
I liked to make a more breadboard friendly version to handle the little transformer more easy, make it easy to move the transformer to other places on the breadboard and have the connections always at the same distances and also get somewhat more robust pins.

 A special PCB for the transformer could have been created, however i still had some 8 pin SMD PCBs and i realized they can be easy adapted for this transformers. This are small PCBs, normally used for 8 pin SMD ICs to making through hole compatible (or make them usable on a breadboard).

At the copper connections for the 8 pin SMD IC some connections were made:  pin 1 to 2 , 3 to 4 , 5 to 6 and 7 to 8. A small wire with some solder to bridge the gaps was used as solder alone tended to flow back on the pads. When you want a connection it sometimes does not work and when you don't want a connection.... 

The wires of the audio transformer fit exactly as 3*4 grid in pin holes 2, 4, 5, and 7. However first the Dupont male pins at pin 1, 8, 3 and 6 (see photos) were soldered as soldering the transformer first would make it more difficult.
For stability 2 strips with 4 male Dupont pins were used, first removing the middle 2 pins as they are not needed.  

1	2	3	4
8	7	6	5

The green positions are wires for the audio transformer and at the red positions are for the Dupont pins.  As there are connections between pin 1-2 , 3-4 , 5-6 and 7-8 the transformer is now breadboard friendly.

(Picture with breadboard, a breadboard friendly and a direct plugged in audio transformer and some other components)

Vector Network Analyzer ( VNA) - 4 - Testing a 'Lora' antenna

With my Vector Network Analyzer i decided to test a LoRa antenna that i had still in a part box as i was never successful in using it.
In my region the Frequency for Lora is 868MHz (and so is my Lora hardware).
However using  my VNA i found out relative easy that this antenna would be more successful in the 433 MHz region and would not be very useful at 868 MHz ! 

 

This explained why i never had any good results using this antenna !

I expect this antenna was listed a LoRa antenna when i did buy it, however not for my region.

Non sequential computing environment and Forth -2-

In part -1- of this series this table was presented to to show some Forth words.
The header part of the table is in bold.

Table 1

	TOS	n1	n2	n3
SWAP	TOS	n2	n1	n3
DROP	TOS - 1		n2	n3
+	TOS - 1		n1 + n2	n3

This table is not (yet) a real Forth table and also can be simplified.
Calculations in this table are 'normal algebra' and not in Forth RPN calculations.
'Normal algebra' n1 + n2 becomes in RPN  n1 n2 + 
As already mentioned in my previous post the change of TOS depends on the amount of bits. The TOS should perhaps should be decremented by 2 or another value depending on the amount of bits in each stack item and the memory width.  It is a system constant depending on the implementation.
In this article series i will use SWDTH (stack width). In the RPN table  TOS - 1 should be written as TOS  SWDTH -

Table 2

	TOS	n1	n2	n3
SWAP	TOS	n2	n1	n3
DROP	TOS SWDTH -		n2	n3
+	TOS SWDTH -		n1 n2 +	n3

Some things in this table are still confusing (however it looks already more Forth).
For example a 'strange historical convention' of n1 n2 n3 where
n1 is the item on top of the stack,  n2 is the item just below it and n3 is two steps below. Another way is to see n1 n2 n3 as memory locations where values calculated are stored.  n1 is TOS @ and n2 is TOS SWDTH - @

Table 3

	TOS	n1	n2	n3
	TOS	TOS @	TOS SWDTH - @	TOS SWDTH 2* - @
SWAP	TOS	n2	n1	n3
DROP	TOS SWDTH -		n2	n3
+	TOS SWDTH -		n1 n2 +	n3

In a real 'physical' implementation of the table it would be needed to include items above the TOS (Top Of the Stack) in case items are added or pushed to the stack. Also it would be strange to represent the first items above the stack using n0 . It would be more systematic if the item on top of stack was referenced as n0 and use n+1 and n-1 for the items just above or below. However in Forth for many years items on the stack where called n1 n2 n3 and breaking with this convention would cause a lot of confusion. Also we do not want tot use complicated difficult to read terms as TOS @ or TOS SWDTH - @  So i decided (temporary) to use p0 and not n1 see tabel below.

Table 4

	TOS	( n0 ? )	n1	n2	n3
	TOS	p1	p0	p-1	p-2
	TOS	TOS SWDTH + @	TOS @	TOS SWDTH - @	TOS SWDTH 2* - @
SWAP	TOS		n2	n1	n3
DROP	TOS SWDTH -			n2	n3
+	TOS SWDTH -			n1 n2 +	n3

In the next evolution of the table i added an example of a Forth word that pushes a value to the stack.
It is the Forth word 0 . It is a number implemented in this Forth table where the value 0 is pushed to the stack.
In the table header a new Forth word PA is introduced ( shorthand for ParameterStackAddress ).
The location is described using Forth word  PA to avoid using n1 n2 n3 or p0 p1 p2 notations, 

 : PA SWDTH * TOS @ + ;

Table 5

	TOS	( n0 ? )	n1	n2	n3
		p1	p0	p-1	p-2
Location	TOS	1 PA	0 PA	-1 PA	-2 PA
	TOS	TOS SWDTH + @	TOS @	TOS SWDTH - @	TOS SWDTH 2* - @
SWAP	TOS		n2	n1	n3
DROP	TOS SWDTH -			n2	n3
+	TOS SWDTH -			n1 n2 +	n3
0	TOS SWDTH +	0	n1	n2	n3

We now have almost everything described in Forth and RPN
To evolve the table further we need to do something with the gaps (empty spaces).

In fact there are several options to handle these gaps.
A) Handle a gap as something that not needs to be changed  ( "Ignore" or "don't change" )

Table 6a

	TOS	( n0 ? )	n1	n2	n3
		p1	p0	p-1	p-2
Location	TOS	1 PA	0 PA	-1 PA	-2 PA
	TOS	TOS SWDTH + @	TOS @	TOS SWDTH - @	TOS SWDTH 2* - @
SWAP	TOS	Ignore	n2	n1	Ignore
DROP	TOS SWDTH -	Ignore	Ignore	Ignore	Ignore
+	TOS SWDTH -	Ignore	Ignore	n1 n2 +	Ignore
0	TOS SWDTH +	0	Ignore	Ignore	Ignore

B) Fill gap with a "Null" value
"Null" is a special marker and keyword indicating that something has no value (in SQL )
Using  option 2 ( Null) the small table the table would look as below.

Table 6b

	TOS	( n0 ? )	n1	n2	n3
		p1	p0	p-1	p-2
	TOS	1 PA	0 PA	-1 PA	-2 PA
	TOS	TOS SWDTH + @	TOS @	TOS SWDTH - @	TOS SWDTH 2* - @
SWAP	TOS	Null	n2	n1	n3
DROP	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	n2	n3
+	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	n1 n2 +	n3
0	TOS SWDTH +	0	n1	n2	n3

Both representations have advantages and disadvantages.
I like option B) using Null as this removes garbage (data that is no longer needed) from the system. Keeping items in a system that are no longer needed can introduce errors and vulnerabilities,

C) A third option could be using Null and, when no changes are needed use some kind of Noop  (no operation, do nothing) indicator.

Table 6c

	TOS	( n0 ? )	n1	n2	n3
		p1	p0	p-1	p-2
	TOS	1 PA	0 PA	-1 PA	-2 PA
	TOS	TOS SWDTH + @	TOS @	TOS SWDTH - @	TOS SWDTH 2* - @
SWAP	Noop	Null	n2	n1	Noop
DROP	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	Noop	Noop
+	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	n1 n2 +	Noop
0	TOS SWDTH +	0	Noop	Noop	Noop

If Null and Noop are Forth words a table can be created that describes Forth words in Forth code. The Noop has as disadvantage that just rewriting the old value perhaps is as fast or even faster then  evaluating that something is a Noop and not changing a value.

Table 7

	TOS	( n0 ? )	n1	n2	n3
		p1	p0	p-1	p-2
	TOS	1 PA	0 PA	-1 PA	-2 PA
	TOS	TOS SWDTH + @	TOS @	TOS SWDTH - @	TOS SWDTH 2* - @
SWAP	Noop	Null	-1 PA	0 PA	Noop
DROP	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	Noop	Noop
+	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	0 PA -1 PA +	Noop
0	TOS SWDTH +	0	Noop	Noop	Noop

Extending the table with more Forth words gives the next table (Table 8)

Table 8

	TOS	( n0 ? )	n1	n2	n3
		p1	p0	p-1	p-2
	TOS	1 PA	0 PA	-1 PA	-2 PA
	TOS	TOS SWDTH + @	TOS @	TOS SWDTH - @	TOS SWDTH 2* - @
SWAP	Noop	Null	-1 PA	0 PA	Noop
DROP	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	Noop	Noop
+	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	0 PA -1 PA +	Noop
0	TOS SWDTH +	0	Noop	Noop	Noop
1	TOS SWDTH +	1	Noop	Noop	Noop
2	TOS SWDTH +	2	Noop	Noop	Noop
3	TOS SWDTH +	3	Noop	Noop	Noop
4	TOS SWDTH +	4	Noop	Noop	Noop
-1	TOS SWDTH +	-1	Noop	Noop	Noop
-2	TOS SWDTH +	-2	Noop	Noop	Noop
Noop	Noop	Noop	Noop	Noop	Noop
-	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	0 PA -1 PA -	Noop
*	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	0 PA -1 PA *	Noop
/	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	0 PA -1 PA /	Noop
=	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	0 PA -1 PA =	Noop
@	Noop	Null	@	Noop	Noop
!	TOS SWDTH -	Null	Null	Null	Noop
2*	Noop	Null	2 *	Noop	Noop
2*	Noop	Null	2*	Noop	Noop
TOS	TOS SWDTH +	TOS	Noop	Noop	Noop
TOS	TOS SWDTH +	"Value"	Noop	Noop	Noop
SWDTH	TOS SWDTH +	"Value"	Noop	Noop	Noop
SWDTH+	Noop	Null	Noop	Noop	Noop
SWDTH-	Noop	Null	Noop	Noop	Noop

In the last part of table 8 some issues can be seen that need (and can) be solved.  Therefor i did write it in Italics and some words i described in multiple ways.

! Can't be full described in this table.The result of ! will be that 2 items are removed from the stack. An address and a value. The value will be stored at the address. However it is not easy to extend the lookup table so it will include all addresses in memory. ( @ can be described in the table. However there must be some kind of low level implementation!)

2* multiplies the value that is on top of stack by two. It can be described as just doing 2 *
Written in Forth code : 2* 2 * ;  
However in some Forth systems this is implemented in low level code as it can be executed fast,  This is just one example, however in general this creates a dilemma when trying to make a table like this. Many Forth words can easy be defined as itself, However that does not explain what these Forth words do. Also sometimes these words can be implemented in another way using other Forth words or should  call low level code.  

TOS ( Top Of Stack) is a variable. It it can be put in the table just calling some implementation of itself. However an easy implementation is pushing 'the value of the address' on the stack.

 SWDTH is a (system) constant, as described in the beginning of this article. A constant can be described in this table as it self, Or just put the value on the stack comparable to TOS

Some sequences of operations appear very often in this table. Examples are
TOS SWDTH + and TOS SWDTH + and also my new Forth word PA
  : PA SWDTH * TOS @ + ;
This indicates that speeding up these sequences can speed up the Forth system. 

We have seen that we can put the descriptions of (several) Forth words in a table.
Can that help us in a new Forth implementation and what about a 'Non sequential computing environment'? Yes, if we can describe Forth words in a table we can describe Forth in a table. This not only makes Forth portable, it also makes it possible we can create Forth in a table environment, e.g. a relational database.

P0cForth

What is P0cForth?

P0cForth is NOT another (full) Forth implementation. It is a only minimalistic Forth like system and my idea about P0cForth, I respect other ideas about minimalistic Forth and even opinion that this is so minimal that it is not a real Forth system. That is why it has a 0 in it name.

Why P0cForth?

For a long time I was thinking what Forth words are minimal needed to code to create a Forth (like) system. There are guides what Forth primitives need to be created to bootstrap a full Forth system. However I wanted a minimalist set of Forth words. Not to bootstrap a Forth system, only as a proof of concept for a Forth system that can be extended. A search on internet gives information about several interesting minimal Forth systems. Even systems minimal systems including @ ! however that is not what i wanted.
Also wanted to give it a name. I decided for P0cForth , "Proof of concept Forth" , i changed the o to 0.
It is to have bare minimal system that is relative easy to build (and can be extended) to have a proof of concept Forth system. 

What words/code need to be in P0cForth?

In the Forth2020 Zoom meeting on 9 januari 2021 Dr Ting talked about  Jeforth 2.01.
He mentioned a minimal system with 9 Forth words
: ; * . , dup dolit ret here
He also presented simple demos:
: square dup * ;
: quad square square ;
; octet quad quad ;
8 octet . 4 octet .

I used this 9 words as a start for P0cForth., However, I want to

reduce it even more.

So I ended up with this 5 words:
: ; * . dup 
I decided to reduce the system even more by omitting the interpretation of numbers defining (some) numbers direct as words. This would decrease the programming code and logic. And yes when extending the proof of concept Forth real handling of numbers would be useful and literals and dolit can be very useful. However I wanted to reduce it as much as possible. Literals are a very useful method of implementation, however i did not want to force this as a solution for handling numbers in my definition of P0cForth.
The code created for a number as a Forth words for a target system can be easy copied and adapted for another number. So it could be easy extended to include a lot of other numbers. However i wanted it to  as minimal as possible.

What numbers would be needed  minimal to have a proof of concept Forth system? At first did think at a minimum i would be needing the numbers 0 1 2 3 and (perhaps) -1 With this numbers you can play in the minimal PocForth for testing. And these numbers could be included in the dictionary.
With * and -1 it can be  and easy extend it to numbers in the range -4 to 4 (However if you continue reading to the end you will see this idea was wrong. Only one very special number is sufficient to create all numbers!)

: 4 2 2 * ;
: -2 -1 2 * ;
: -3 -1 3 * ;
: -4 -1 4 * ;
Also the demo mentioned above can be tested (after creating 8)

: 8 4 2 * ;

: square dup * ;
: quad square square ;
; octet quad quad ;
8 octet . 4 octet .

Adding code for a + function would make it possible to extend the number range even further without having gaps.

My first idea of a minimal P0cForth that could be a first start for a minimal Forth as

5 Forth words                 : ; * . dup
5 ‘number words’           -1 0 1 2 3

Creating e.g. a text input stream processor with this 6 different type of words would give a proof of concept system that could be used as a basis to create a full Forth system. 

Two facts made me not complete happy with this set of words.
- The possibility to build a complete Forth with these words is missing. it is only possible to extend this Forth by changing the 'external' code and add more words. However this minimal words can be a good basis of a proof of concept when creating a new Forth.

- And most important I did think it would be possible to reduce this word set even more!

So i started to reducing
1 is not needed as it could be defined by the other words
: 1 -1 dup * ;

If i would add the Forth word + 2 and 3 can be removed 
: 2 1 dup + ;

: 3 1 dup dup + + ;

Also 0 is not needed as it can be created

: 0 -1 1 + ; 

: 0 -1 dup dup * + ;

I would never have imagined that it was only needed to have one number to create other numbers, and that that number would be -1  

P0cForth minimal wordset 

No interpretation of numbers needed and only 7 words 

:  ;  .  *  dup  +  -1

Here some demo code to demonstrate what can be done with this 7 word system

: 0 -1 dup dup * + ;

: 1 -1 dup * ;

: 2 1 dup + ;

: 3 1 dup dup + + ;

: 4 2 dup * ;

: 8 4 2 * ;

: - -1 * + ;

: square dup * ;

: quad square square ;
: octet quad quad ;

3 square .
8 octet . 

4 octet .

8 3 - .

I think it is possible to reduce this 7 word set even more or add more capabilities adapting the selection of this words.
A simple option would be to reduce the word set would be omitting ; and have a the new definition, that in Forth starts with the colon :  close always at the end of the line.

Vector Network Analyzer ( VNA) - 3 - RF Demo Kit

To get to know my VNA i used my RF Demo kit that i already received some weeks ago.
The RF Demo kit board has 18 circuits, including circuits that can be used for calibration ( Short, Open Load and Thru).

I configured some parameters in my LiteVNA ( 0.1 MHz - 450 MHz , for more details see screenshot my previous post about my VNA. ) It are not the optimal settings to test a specific circuit, however this are settings to measure all the circuits on this RF Demo Kit within a reasonable time.

After calibration using the calibration circuits on the board (13,14,15,16) i measured all the circuits. Saved graphs of the measurements are in the table below.
I used the same graphic output for all. I know for some measurements the Smith Chart is the best output, for other other graphs are better, however this was an experiment to test and learn the VNA and compare the circuits.

1	LPF-30MHz
2	HPF-100MHz
3	BPF-433MHz
4	BSF-6.5MHz
5	33 Ω SWR=1.5
6	75 Ω SWR=1.5
7
8
9
10
11
12
13	Short
14	Open
15	Load
16	Thru
17	ATT -5dB
18	ATT -10dB

Vector Network Analyzer ( VNA) - 2 - Screenshots

During writing of by blog post, that originally was planned as the second post in this VNA series,  i realized that i wanted to show very much pictures in one blog post.
Therefore first this post "Vector Network Analyzer ( VNA) - 2 - Screenshots" with some screenshots of some parts of the VNA software and settings that i used before i will present Vector Network Analyzer ( VNA) - 3 - RF Demo Kit measurements.

The LiteVNA 

Settings I used when testing the RF Demo Kit

Window for Calibration

Frequency ranges (can be stored in the Windows software)

RF Demo Kit

Vector Network Analyzer ( VNA) - 1 - Intro

Recently i received my Vector Network Analyzer (LiteVNA) and am very happy to finally have this interesting device.

Information and explaining in detail what is a VNA, what you can do with it (and how) can be found on internet and is probably better explained by other who have much more experience with this topic. However as i want to post some first results when testing my VNA on my blog, and for visitors of my blog who don't know anything about VNAs i first need do start with "Vector Network Analyzer ( VNA) - 1 - Intro". 

A Vector Network Analyzer (or VNA) is an electronic measurement and testing device that generates and measures frequencies so you can do measurements on things like antennas and (radio) frequency filters.
With modern electronic and some smart people made it possible to buy now a VNA in the 50 Euro range to do some measurement that where some years ago only possible with equipment of thousands of euros. The LiteVNA that i got costs around 100 Euro as this device works up to 6 GHz. My first 3 attempts some months ago to buy a VNA failed. After ordering i received a message it was not possible to deliver and my money was returned. I even did think of buying a VNA with lower frequency range if it was available. However, after some weeks waiting, i tried again at another store and they could deliver relative fast! The VNA came with a Short Open and Load connectors and some cables.

The VNA has two connectors. One connector acts as a combined output and input. A signal is provided to a DUT (Device Under Test)  and the signal is measured. The frequency of the signal can sweep in a frequency range and this way you can determine frequency characteristics of an antenna.
The other connector can act as input and by placing a DUT (a filter circuit) between the output and input you can observe how the DUT (filter circuit) behaves at different frequencies.

Calibration of the VNA is very important and the VNA also reacts on other changes e.g. cable length. A common calibration is the SOLT calibration  (Short, Open, Load and Thru).
Short Open and Load calibration is done by using a shorted circuit, open circuit or a load (e.g. 50 Ohm) on the combined input/output and running the appropriate calibration.
Calibration of Thru is done by connecting the two connectors without the DUT running the Thru calibration.

The LiteVNA can be used stand alone (powered provided by build in Lithium power cell) or via USB connected to a computer. Usng the computer you have a much bigger screen and you can easy export the measured data or  the pictures. The LiteVNA also as a memory slot for additional storage.
As recommended by some internet tutorial I placed additional connectors on the original connectors for protection.

In my next blog post i will post some results using a RF Demo Kit board. 

Some findings in the limited time that i have played with the VNA:

• It is nice that the PC software can display a graph of the battery power of the VNA.
• The LiteVNA (at least mine) can become very warm. Perhaps some settings (output power) can or need to be adapted to reduce this. I could not yet find if the temperature can be monitored (like the battery power). I don't know if and and how measurements are influenced by this temperate.
• Measurements seems to be quite sensitive to things like cable length and the connection.

Non sequential computing environment and Forth -1-

Some things described in this article series can be used to implement the Forth programming language in a 'non sequential computing environment' and in a 'sequential computer environment..

My first reason to write this article series with the name 'Non sequential computing environment and Forth' is that non sequential computing can bring much computer power and will be easy to scale up if it is simple to use. It is called  'non sequential computing environment' as the terms parallel computing, parallel processing , concurrent computing or multitasking as give associations to to specific other things and solutions. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_computing can help to give some background ) 

A second reason that this article series can be an inspiration for new Forth implementations and has items that can be used in a real implementation by others.

I am experimenting with new Forth implementations and want to report something about it. The third reason for writing this article series is that it can serve as an introduction to my experiments.

I the early days of computers was the cost of the hardware was an important limiting factor

You needed to spend a months salary for a 'simple' computer like a Commodore 64. To get more computing power the most easy way seemed to be is doing everything at a higher speed. Every evolution creating a next generation faster computers (and making the old computers obsolete).

A new fast computer is still relative expensive however there are also a lot of cheap computing devices available. Special hardware ( e.g. FPGA's , small micro controllers, memory ) is getting more and more available for low prices. Yes the newest and fastest hardware is still expensive however the price of getting computer power is extreme low compared to 40 years ago.

Small cheap processors and micro-controllers and FPGAs do have this interesting computing power. For only a few euro's or dollars it is possible to buy devices like raspberry (or other) pi systems or devices like ESP8266 or ESP32. When you look to the hours you need to work to earn sufficient to buy, several years ago, one computing device', nowadays can can buy more than hundred ESP32 devices. The only problem is that we do not (yet) have good software tools to handle that amount of computing power.  

In the 'classic' computer evolution the computer power was increased by a higher clock speed, adding memory caches special instructions and some other tricks. Processes and programs are executed sequential and the speed is increased to get more computing power. If we sacrifice some of the computer speed and could do things non sequential it is possible to scale up extremely by doing things in parallel. Perhaps this even creates 'greener' computers as old computer power does not become obsolete but can still be used as everything is non-sequential.

My opinion is that especially the programming language Forth can play a roll in a non sequential computing environment. Many programmers are trained in sequential programming and thinking. Also most programming languages are created in a sequential way.  Therefore also a mind shift is needed.
I will illustrate non sequential programming with some simple standard examples. Let say we have a simple problem with 2 variables. 

In a non Forth environment e.g.:
A = 5
B = 3
We want to swap the values so A will have the value of B and B will have the value of A.
In most languages it is not possible to put this in a program like
Let A = B
Let B = A
This as everything is executed sequential. In our example first A will get the value 3 ( the value of B ).
And in the second statement B will get the value of A. However at that moment A has the value of B (= 3 ) so in the end A as well as B both will have the value  3 .
In our sequential programming environment for swapping the values of A and B we need to introduce a third variable C and make a program like
Let C = A
Let A = B
Let B = C

In Forth it is a good practice to not use unneeded variables and do all calculations on the stack.
In Forth the values are manipulated on the stack.
Typing 5 3 will push the two values 5 and 3 on the stack.
With .S we can look on the stack and this can display something like (2) 5 3 showing that there a two items on the stack
When we want to swap the order in Forth we give the command SWAP
Checking again with .S gives 3 5

Can Forth do real magic and just SWAP these values in one step?
Unfortunately (most times) no!
This as SWAP (like many other Forth words) in most of the Forth implementations is build using multiple Forth high or low level commands that are executed sequential to do the 'swap'.
Sometimes a the second stack in Forth ( the return stack ) is used to temporary store the value.

A second example is the Forth word DROP . This word removes the top item from the stack. Depending how the stack is implemented in memory it also increments or decrements the Top Of Stack pointer ( the Forth variable TOS ). ( Incrementing or decrementing by 1 is a simple explanation. In fact it also depends on the hardware ( 8 or 16 bits) and the amount of bits of each item on the stack. If the stack items are 16 bits and the memory is just 8 bits the stack needs to be incremented or decremented by 2 and not by 1 ) 

A third, a little more complicated, example of Forth code. An addition.
For example
3 1 +
The values 3 and 1 are pushed on the stack. + does the addition so on top of the stack is now 4
In fact + does multiple things: Not only the two values are added. Also the top of the stack changed  (incremented or decremented depending how it is implemented in Forth.)

What if we could have a Forth that could do this in a non sequential way?
As a first step describing (and implementing) Forth commands in a non sequential way could help.
For most Forth words there are already descriptions in a more or less non sequential way. Often you see explanation of words described  like:

SWAP ( n1 n2 — n2 n1 )

n1 and n2 are the first and second item on the stack
We can represented most all (primitive) Forth words in using a (lookup ) table containing this information. See below a very simple lookup table (with the headers in bold).

Table 1.

	TOS	n1	n2	n3
SWAP	TOS	n2	n1	n3
DROP	TOS - 1		n2	n3
+	TOS - 1		= n1 + n2	n3

n3 illustrates that n3 did not change with any of the words SWAP DROP + 
TOS the top of (parameter) stack was also added illustrate that it changes.
E.g. DROP or + will increment TOS.
In part 2 of this article series i will write more in detail about this table.

Youtube Scam Alert

 As a response to my comment on a Youtube Video of AdamSavagesTested i found the message below:

The red T in the circle makes it look like a response from the  AdamSavagesTested account, however if fact it is from another YouTube channel created just a few weeks ago:

Below a screenshot of the conversation on Telegram:

So it turned out by pre-paying $125 for shipment i receive the prize, a MacBook of more than $1000 !

(Several other people also got a similar message that they won a prize.)

It even turned out a little more interesting. I suggested Bitcoin as payment.

Would FedEx accepting Bitcoin ??

Does the scammer really think i believe him and smells the money?

Apps Privacy

As i am experimenting also with Android apps i also need to include a link to a privacy policy.
Some apps don't collect data and this page contains the privacy policy for this apps.

So in the itself app no data i collected, only data that is collected by Google and the app-store itself.
 

Big Clive Supercomputer Version 2022

Recently i created a new ( 2022 ) version of a Big Clive Computer. More than a year ago (January 2021) i posted on my blog my 2021 version of Big Clive's Supercomputer https://blog.jeronimus.net/2021/01/big-clive-supercomputer.html From last years version no video was posted on my blog. This year i decided to include a video.

The 2022 version is a 2 color version,  i used 2 resistors. Also in last years version to reduce the amount of components i use only one resistor per color/group of led.

The value of the resistor depends on the voltage of the power supply. ( I decided to power it with a 9 volt battery )
Components list:

•  2*6 leds flashing leds ( 12 leds, 6 leds of each color) 
• 2 resistors
• 1 small switch
• one 9 volt battery with connector
• 1 piece of perfboard

D2-D9 Led tester Shield for Arduino Uno

There are several shield available for the Arduino Uno that can help with learning, experimenting and testing. I created a simple "D2-D9 Led tester shield" that can be used to test some simple Arduino output. 

It is a simple PCB with 8 Leds and resistors 3 standard push buttons and a reset button.
I called my shield the D2-D9 Led tester shield. On the PCB there are no hard paths from D2-D9 to the Leds or the buttons (Except the Reset button). With some jumpers the Leds can be easy connected, disconnected or reconfigured.
Each led has a 5 pin male DuPont connector and two jumpers connected according to the diagram below.

On the first PCB i soldered i used two different color jumpers to easy show the connection. However it is also possible to do things different, e.g. using wire bridges to hard wire the Leds.
The middle pin Dn is D2 to D9. In the table below i used a (anode) and k (kathode) for the led connections. However in reality it is an Led with resistor.

 

GND	k	Dn	a	VCC	(no jumpers / nothing connected)  led off (See photo U2)
GND	k	Dn	a	VCC	"power mode"  Led always on (See photo U3)
GND	k	Dn	a	VCC	Led between GND and Dn Dn High will turn led on (See photo U4)
GND	k	Dn	a	VCC	Led between Dn and VCC Dn Low will turn led on (See photo U5)

(U5 also has noting connected like U2,The jumpers are attached to one pin.) 

To connect another data-pin from the Arduino  than the corresponding Dn in the 5 in connector a Dupont wire can be used.

 I made my the PCB design versatile; for the resistors and/or Leds  SMD or Thru Hole components can be used.

On the shield is also a Reset button and 3 push buttons ( SW0, SW1 and SW2) that easy can be connected with jumpers to A0, A1 and A2.

Using my "Ardaptor design" , a design that i try to use is possible (e.g. on my PCB business card ) additional flexibility is added. I named it "Ardaptor design", a combination of Arduino and adapter, as a work name for this experiment when i first tried it. I am staring to using this name more in public. It has the following features:

-1- Next to the standard pins for the Arduino there is an additional set of holes on the PCB. In stead of Dupont connectors with extra long pins it is also possible to use just male pins and an additional set of female pins to make the shield stackable.

-2- An additional row of pins using the normal pin grid so the PCB can also be used to stack a standard veroboard  (PY-5cm*7cm) to an Arduino.
Besides the easy stacking it has the advantage that, as with the cheap PCB services you get minimal 5 PCBs, unused PCBs can be easy made useful.