--- title: xkcd: Forth | daily.dev description: An xkcd comic strip referencing the Forth programming language, shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-forth-tmmx2qmxo twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: xkcd: Forth | daily.dev og:description: An xkcd comic strip referencing the Forth programming language, shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-forth-tmmx2qmxo og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/TmMx2qMXO.png og:image:alt: xkcd: Forth og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # xkcd: Forth **[xkcd](https://daily.dev/sources/xkcd)** · 1 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An xkcd comic strip referencing the Forth programming language, shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 54 comments across hackernews (as of 2026-07-28). **TL;DR:** The community is largely having fun with an xkcd comic about Forth's reverse Polish notation syntax, riffing on Yoda-speak, PostScript parallels, and Forth trivia — with a few commenters defending Forth's readability against the 'write-only' myth. **Sentiment:** 60% positive · 30% mixed · 10% skeptical **The case for** - Forth's stack-based RPN syntax makes for a clever, readable joke that resonates with programmers familiar with the language. - Several commenters note Forth is more readable and maintainable than its 'write-only' reputation suggests. - The xkcd disclaimer text is itself a hidden gem of humor that many hadn't noticed before. **The pushback** - The 'write-only' myth about Forth (and similar FUD about COBOL) persists despite being unfounded according to those who've actually used it. **By community** - hackernews (positive): Thread is a lighthearted, knowledgeable riff on Forth/RPN humor with tangential deep-dives into PostScript, Yoda-speak, and xkcd easter eggs. **Hottest debate:** Whether Forth is genuinely readable and maintainable or deserves its 'write-only' reputation. **Open questions** - Does xkcd.com actually have a hidden easter egg if you satisfy the absurd requirements in its disclaimer? **Highlights** > Master Yoda's speech, secret solved is; an old Forth programmer is he simply. > — [throw-the-towel on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49077974) > FORTH LOVE? IF HONK THEN > — [dchest on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49075964) > FYI: Forth can be very readable! IT DOES NOT NEED TO BR ALL IN ONE LINE Most commercial forth source code is totally readable and maintainable: comments, newlines, macros, high level commands etc It's a total myth that its 'write only'. The same nonsense is spreaded by some nerds who actaully never wrote a single program in it. ps. same goes to COBOL. 99% of fud by guys who never even wrote a simple program in it. > — [iberator on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49079003) > The Forth (and Lisp) posts will continue until the entire HN population has been converted. I am glad that this forum that has mostly been colonized by the ‘normies’ still manages to keep these two languages in the conversation, capturing curious passersby with their exotic allure. In every post you see new prey with the comments like ‘I keep reading about Lisp and I still don’t get why it’s popular. All I see is parentheses. Can anybody explain?’ I fear the day HN closes is the day those languages will die. > — [sph on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49080093) > Here is some inexplicably but meticulously formatted FORTH code that uses right justified indentation! Including reverse polish notation assembley. https://donhopkins.com/home/code/tomt-cam-forth-scr.txt https://donhopkins.com/home/code/tomt-users-forth-scr.txt ( FMOVE -- functional intersegment move ) HEX 88 CONSTANT *MOV* ( fn = 0 ) 20 CONSTANT *AND* ( fn = 1 ) 08 CONSTANT *OR* ( fn = 2 ) 30 CONSTANT *XOR* ( fn = 3 ) CODE FMOVE ( fn s.seg s.off d.seg d.off length --) AX, SI MOV CX POP DI POP ES POP SI POP DS POP DX POP AX PUSH AL, # *XOR* MOV DX, # 3 CMP 1$ JE AL, # *OR* MOV DX, # 2 CMP 1$ JE AL, # *AND* MOV DX, # 1 CMP 1$ JE AL, # *MOV* MOV 1$: CS: HERE 5 + , AL MOV ( modify "[DI], AL MOV" ) 2$: LODS ES: [DI], AL MOV DI INC 2$ LOOP AX, CS MOV ES, AX MOV DS, AX MOV SI POP NEXT, END-CODE --> > — [DonHopkins on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49077381) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49074991) · 68 points · 54 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [xkcd: Grammar](https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-grammar-mnof4awox) · xkcd · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [xkcd: Creation](https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-creation-94zugcffr) · xkcd · 6 upvotes · 1 comments - [xkcd: Apples](https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-apples-vxp162cde) · xkcd · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [xkcd: Launchpad](https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-launchpad-ygsfqvrlk) · xkcd · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [xkcd: Trade](https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-trade-sevqtgq1n) · xkcd · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-forth-tmmx2qmxo) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"xkcd: Forth","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-forth-tmmx2qmxo","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-forth-tmmx2qmxo"},"datePublished":"2026-07-27T17:04:17.269Z","dateModified":"2026-07-28T08:51:54.921Z","description":"An xkcd comic strip referencing the Forth programming language, shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZrL_HSsR--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2006","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZrL_HSsR--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2006","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"xkcd","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"xkcd","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--zNsMTvhb--/f_auto/v1715498259/logos/4VrRlxqwQg7VQrIYvqrOgMM4qHi8kz5G1TI1TCFz27U.png","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xkcd"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/xkcd-forth-tmmx2qmxo","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT1M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"xkcd","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xkcd"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"xkcd: Forth"}]} ```