The core of Forth is a simple loop that does parsing, and executes Forth words that are responsible for control structures, and this is the ‘compiler’ for Forth programs. Forth does not really have data structures. It just allocates byes of memory and assigns a name to them. The name then returns the address to allow operation on the allocated bytes of memory.

In Forth, there is little difference between the compiler, interpreter, and VM. The nature of the Forth VM allows the sequential expression and execution of code. Every instruction is either inherently understood by the VM, or is defined in terms of things that are inherently understood. It is orthogonal to the extreme.

At the Matasano blog.

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