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5.21.1 Gforth locals

Locals can be defined with 

     { local1 local2 ... -- comment }

or 

     { local1 local2 ... }

E.g., 

     : max { n1 n2 -- n3 }
      n1 n2 > if
        n1
      else
        n2
      endif ;

The similarity of locals definitions with stack comments is intended. A locals definition often replaces the stack comment of a word. The order of the locals corresponds to the order in a stack comment and everything after the -- is really a comment.

This similarity has one disadvantage: It is too easy to confuse locals declarations with stack comments, causing bugs and making them hard to find. However, this problem can be avoided by appropriate coding conventions: Do not use both notations in the same program. If you do, they should be distinguished using additional means, e.g. by position.

The name of the local may be preceded by a type specifier, e.g., F: for a floating point value: 

     : CX* { F: Ar F: Ai F: Br F: Bi -- Cr Ci }
     \ complex multiplication
      Ar Br f* Ai Bi f* f-
      Ar Bi f* Ai Br f* f+ ;

Gforth currently supports cells (W:, W^), doubles (D:, D^), floats (F:, F^) and characters (C:, C^) in two flavours: a value-flavoured local (defined with W:, D: etc.) produces its value and can be changed with TO. A variable-flavoured local (defined with W^ etc.) produces its address (which becomes invalid when the variable's scope is left). E.g., the standard word emit can be defined in terms of type like this: 

     : emit { C^ char* -- }
         char* 1 type ;

A local without type specifier is a W: local. Both flavours of locals are initialized with values from the data or FP stack.

Currently there is no way to define locals with user-defined data structures, but we are working on it.

Gforth allows defining locals everywhere in a colon definition. This poses the following questions: