[svfig-announce] THIRD Saturday !!! Meeting June 20, 2009

[Kevin Appert]

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS THE THIRD SATURDAY, 3 DAYS AWAY!

--- SVFIG Meeting June 20, 2009  ---

    > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also please note that the times listed below are precise but not
accurate.  We might go a little long or short on any agenda item.  If
you're desperate to see something at a particular time, please let us 
know!  Remember that there are bugs in any non-trivial SVFIG meeting 
announcement.

We'll be on the fifth floor of Terman Engineering Center --- Room 556
Directions and map links are below.

There are two buildings named Terman on campus so be careful. The
Searchable Map has the one you want as "TERMAN (FREDERICK E) ENGRG
CENTER  (04-700)  380 PANAMA MALL"
The Official SVFIG Announcement Editor's Parking Lot recommendation is
the lot near the intersection of Teresa St and Morris Way.

    > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AGENDA
10:00 --- COFFEE AND A CHAT

10:14 --- Dissecting thisForth --- CH Ting
"I am trying to understand Wil Baden's thisForth fully, in order to 
build my eForth in C.  It is a daunting task, because thisForth uses M4 
macroprocessor to build its C program.  I even called Wil, and found 
that he is in good health at 81.  I was able to delete all the 
optimization Wil put in thisForth, and kept it working.  I will discuss 
how thisForth was constructed, and some of its internal structures."

11:40 --- LUNCH
On campus most likely, but open to discussion.
To avoid the "noon lemming effect" we'll go to lunch a little before noon.

12:29 --- Consensus-based Detour:  New Guinea Sculpture Garden
On the way back from lunch we might detour to this interesting 
collection... <<<http://www.stanford.edu/~mjpeters/png/>>>
(If we decide to do this, add 12 minutes to start time of all items 
below, see comments above about precision and accuracy)

13:00 --- Introductions, Announcements, Rumors, and Random Access

13:20 --- Rational Representation of the Irrational - LaFarr Stuart
LaFarr will say something about a couple different "words" that he 
thinks would be interesting in a stack-oriented language and possibly a 
bit about finding best fractions such as: 22/7 or 355/113 for Pi based 
on Continued Fractions (which involve pretty complicated mathematical 
proofs; but there are relatively easy ways to use the result (even with 
just a pencil and paper).

14:23 --- Break

14:32 --- Running FIG-Forth on Simulated National Semiconductor PACE and 
IMP-16 Processors --- Eric Smith
Eric will present further discussion and demonstration of FIG-Forth 
running on a PACE simulator. Since last month, he's rewritten the 
simulator in C (it was in Java before) and added a simulated disk. He 
has started work on converting PACE FIG-Forth to an IMP-16 FIG-Forth 
with the eventual goal of running it on a "real" IMP-16 system.

15:17 --- Photos from Maker Faire 2009 ---- Dave Jaffe

16:00 --- Adjourn

 > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The schedule above may be reformatted or line-justified but
please transmit verbatim or not at all.   Any font you like is
alright with me.

No Newsgroup posts or other media distribution this month please!

    > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wireless Internet access is anticipated (though not guaranteed) at
Stanford, so bring your wifi-enabled laptop.

  > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coming to SVFIG:
* Bring speaker suggestions TO EVERY MEETING!

* PLANNING FORTH DAY 2009 - EVERY MEETING

* Mitch Bradley's Forth in C (somebody needs to volunteer)

* I've sent an email to the implementer of the PACE FIG-Forth and await 
his response.

* Update on IntellaSys Chips - John Rible
IntellaSys has imploded, or something.
The chips John Rible will be selling were in test but may be in
someone's closet now.  Perhaps he'll be at the meeting to give us an
update.  Maybe John should find a different outreach to use his grant for.

* Engineering TV
http://engineeringtv.com/
Fifty engineering topic channels. Four new episodes per week.
We have to try this out to see if Stanford's WIFI will keep up.

* BOTBASH 2000 --- Video
A cheepie video of  a May 2000 robot rumble in Mesa Arizona from these
guys:   http://www.battlebots.com/

  > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check the SVFIG web site at http://www.forth.org/svfig/
for last minute changes to this schedule.
The most up-to-date meeting information is at
http://www.forth.org/svfig/next.html

Many thanks to our wonderful Webmaster, Dave Jaffe.

Preliminary agenda along with schedule updates and
discussion may frequently be found on the SVFIG email list.
To subscribe send email to geoperry_at_gmail.com

Please let us know if this isn't your preferred email address for the
SVFIG-Announce mailing list.  Thanks for your patience.

Please suggest a speaker or present at a SVFIG meeting.

Please do not attempt to reply to svfig-announce at ...
send instead to forther_at_comcast.net

  > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Terman Engineering Center can be found on these maps - just search for
Terman: (going to maps.google.com gives an erroneous result)

http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/map/

Searchable Stanford Campus Map:  http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/map/

There is open parking on weekends. Park in any A or C or metered space,
no coins needed even if there's a meter there.

Go to the Stanford links, Google maps has no idea where Terman is!

Once you reach Terman, take the elevator to the 5th floor. Walk across
the foyer and up the ramp just to the left of the glassed-in office.
Room 556 is at the top of the ramp - entrance on the left.
_______________________________________________