From: anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at   
      
   dxf  writes:   
   >ISTM .4th is a   
   >solution looking for a problem.  Given nobody else appears to be using it,   
   >none has been found?   
      
   File extensions are used by various tools for recognizing whether a   
   file contains Forth source code, most notably editors, but also   
   Makefiles and line-counting tools.  Some Forth systems try to use file   
   extensions for including files (e.g., VFX tries .4th (and probably   
   also .fth), and SwiftForth tries .f), so you don't have to write the   
   file extension when using INCLUDE or REQUIRE.   
      
   Concerning Makefiles, I find several occurences of "%.fs" (where "5"   
   is a placeholder for a specific name) in Gforth's Makefile, among them   
   this rule:   
      
   $(buildccdir)/libgf%.la: unix/%.fs $(FORTH_GEN_LIGHT) $(GEN) $(LIBCC_LIB_SRC)   
   libforth   
   		@echo LIBFORTH $<   
   		-./libforth $(package)$(libccdir) $< -e bye   
   		-$(TOUCH) $@   
      
   Here unix/%.fs is a file containing Forth code that describes the   
   interface to C library code, and $(buildccdir)/libgf%.la is the file   
   that describes the corresponding binary files for libtool dynamic   
   linking.   
      
   Why %.fs and not %.4th?  We started with this stuff before the decision   
   on .4th as common extension, and renaming the interface files would   
   break code that includes them.   
      
   - anton   
   --   
   M. Anton Ertl  http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/home.html   
   comp.lang.forth FAQs: http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/forth/faq/toc.html   
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