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-=-=-=-=-=-=-
__ _____ __ ___ _ ______ __ _ _
__ ___ / _ __ ____ _ ( )
___)\ /______ ______
_________ \ / ___ _____ ___)\ ___ __.
_____ | /_ \ | /_ / |
___\ | (/ || // _ | | _ __ __ _
_ _\\ | | _______ |:(/ ( ) | | ( ) ) \/_ \ /( )\
( ) \\| | /_ ____ ||\\ | | | | | | ) ) / ___)
\\ | //__ || \\ | | | | | | | | \ (___ __ _
\) | // || \\_ __| |__| |__| | | |_ \_______ __
| |// ____ __/ | \___ ____ _ _ _ _ _
__ ______) | (/ / __ __ )/
\ \| | / /
\ \ (\_____/ /___ _ ___ _
____ \ ) \____ _____ __ __ Die Another Day _ _
( 32 ) | |
c/a 10.2002.
_____________________________________________________________________________
� .- Words from the Editor -. � |
*: [-] Introduction .......................................... The Clone :*
*: (-) Contact Information ................................... The Clone :*
*: (-) Nettwerked Discussion Board ........................... Nettwerked :*
*: (-) Link of the Month ..................................... The Clone :*
*: (-) K-1ine Mirrors ........................................ The Clone :*
____________________________________________________________________________
� .- Documents -. � |
- : (x) 'The Canadian Military (DSN) Alberta Number Compilation' The Clone :*
- : (x) 'A Canadian Pager Carrier Billing Flaw' ................ The Clone :*
- : (x) 'Technical Depantsing of The Samsung SCH-3500 PCS Phone' Kodin :*
- : (x) 'The Forth Programming Language' ....................... Fractal :*
- : (x) 'The Great Canadian Scam of 2002' ...................... Fractal :*
____________________________________________________________________________
� .- Conclusion -. � |
*: [-] Credits ............................................... The Clone :*
*: [-] Shouts ................................................ The Clone :*
_____________________________________________________________________________
Introduction -
Welcome to the latest issue of K-1ine #32 'Die Another Day'. I would like to
thank everyone who submitted articles to me, you guys rule. Enjoy this issue
of K-1ine zine, and if you forget to send me more articles in the future,
I'll curl up in a ball and cry in a corner whilst sucking my thumb. Yeeehaw!
-->
Contact Information;
Comments/Questions/Submissions: theclone@hackcanada.com
Check out my site: (Nettwerked) http://www.nettwerked.net
-
Nettwerked Discussion Board;
"Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something..."
POST YOUR NEWS, AND POST YOUR THOUGHTS FREELY ON:
www.nettwerked.net/PHPBB
-->
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--=[ LINK OF THE MONTH ]=--
Every month I post one really great "link of the month" on every issue
of K-1ine magazine. The link can be anything in the technology industry,
music scene, rave scene, punk scene, or even a good article you read on
a news site. I'll be taking submissions via e-mail or IRC right away; so
get your links in and maybe you'll see it in the next issue of K-1ine!
For the month of October, the link of the month is:
http://www.endtheusa.com/
'Teaching world citizens and governments about what
being ignorant, self-destructive, and limiting
personal freedoms can do to society."
[submitted by: The Clone]
--
K-1ine Mirrors:
http://www.mirrors.wiretapped.net/security/info/textfiles/k1ine/
(Now mirrored in two places, one in Belgium and another in Sydney)
"Wiretapped.net is an archive of open source software, informational
textfiles and radio/conference broadcasts covering the areas of network
and information security, network operations, host integrity, cryptography
and privacy, among others. We believe we are now the largest archive of
this type of software & information, hosting in excess of 20 gigabytes of
information mirrored from around the world."
--
http://www.hackcanada.com/canadian/zines/index.html#K-1ine
Hack Canada - Canadian H/P - E-Zines
--==================================================================--
\ \ \ \ \ \ / | / / / / / /
\ \ \ \ \ \ / / / | / / / /
\ \ \ \ | / / / / / / / /
\ \ \ \ \ / / | / / / /
\ \ \ \ | | / / | / / / / / /
\ \ \ \ / / / / / / /
\ \ \ _\_______________________/_ / / /
\ ............................... / /
...BLING BLING!...................................
_....................................._
/.........' |_\ "|" ,_ _ `.........\
|........... | \ _|_ | | |_; ...........|
;........... _, ...........;
______ ______ ______ ______ ______
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
______ ______ ______ ______
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
______ ______ ______ ______ ______
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
_________________________________________
' '
._______________________________________.
_
],/ ~|~ ;, ; [ '_
]"\ | ; \: [__/
~`~
____________________ ____
| || "T||T" | |Y// |
| || | || | | |// |
.\|| | || | | /// |
|\\| | || | |/// /`ing
| \ | || | // /all the
| \ | || | // / fucking way
| \ \ | || | // / to Bejing
| \_\_| || |_// /
;________________,/
\||/
- phlux
--
<Steelethan> I have a gurlfrend now.]
<Steelethan> She's got a weenie :'(
--
The Canadian Military (DSN) Alberta Number Compilation
* Compiled by: The Clone
* Date: Monday, September 23, 2002
-
Disclaimer: This documentation contains phone numbers for the interest of
telecom enthusiasts and the general public. If you do anything
that involves prank calling or social engineering of military
staff, you will deal with the consequences (not me). If you don't
agree to this, please close your browser, turn off your computer
and go back to your television.
Notes: This list is for the Alberta Region. All the information on this file
is based on public documents that I found on various public web-sites.
Neat Pattern(s): Suffixes that end in "00" and "11" are Operator Assistance.
[ Phone Number ] [ Details ]
319-252-8211 CFB, COMOX (Operator Assistance)
319-520-4011 CFB SUFFIELD (Operator Assistance)
319-520-4101 BRITISH ARMY TRAINING UNIT (BATUS) - SUFFIELD
319-520-4416 742nd COMM DET - SUFFIELD
319-520-4623 DEFENCE RESEARCH EST - DRES - SUFFIELD
319-528-3827 1st CDN BRIGADE GP HQ - CFB EDMONTON
319-528-4011 74th COMM GP - EDMONTON (Operator Assistance)
319-528-4011 CFB EDMONTON LANCASTER PARK (Operator Assistance)
319-528-4011 CFB EDMONTON OPS (Operator Assistance)
319-528-4011 MACS EDMONTON (COMMERCIAL # 780-472-2539) (Operator Assistance)
319-528-4398 408th HEL SQN OPS - EDMONTON
319-528-5808 CFB EDMONTON OPS
319-528-6703 742nd COMM SQN - EDMONTON
319-530-1011 WAINRIGHT TRAINING CENTRE (Operator Assistance)
319-530-1584 PPCLI BSL - WAINWRIGHT
319-530-1747 742ND COMM DET - WAINWRIGHT
319-530-3511 CFB CALGARY (Operator Assistance)
319-530-4011 CFB SUFFIELD (Operator Assistance)
319-530-4381 408TH HEL SQN OPS - CFB
319-530-7011 CFB SUFFIELD (Operator Assistance)
319-530-7161 742ND C0MM DET - CALGARY
319-530-8822 742ND COMM SQN - EDMONTON
319-530-8897 CFB, Edmonton Ops
319-690-8011 CFB, COLD LAKE (Operator Assistance)
319-690-8011 4th WING - COLD LAKE (Operator Assistance)
319-690-8562 742nd COMM DET - COLD LAKE / NOW = 4 TIS
319-690-8562 4 TIS - COLD LAKE
- -
Research: http://www.hackcanada.com/canadian/phreaking/canadamil.html
Credits: Coercion (thanks for the additional research papers)
Shouts: Hack Canada, Nettwerked666, The Department of National Defence.
Have more Alberta DSN #'s you'd like to see in this file?
E-mail: theclone@hackcanada.com
--
<dec0de> yeah, you look like Scott Baio
<theclone> hahaha
<theclone> yeah a little
<dec0de> haha. you finally admit it.
--
A Canadian Pager Carrier Billing Flaw
Monday, October 7, 2002
Written by: The Clone
Contribution by: Colt45
Shouts: Hack Canada, Nettwerked666, PacketNinja.ca
-
Disclaimer: This documentation is for entertainment and informational purposes
only. In no way do I recommend you try any of these things, because
it may get you in trouble with your phone company. However, if you
do choose to attempt to exploit this little Canadian pager
vulnerability; use a payphone, an automated divertor, op divert,
use an outdial, or beige box someone's phone line. Oh yeah, and
I'm not responsible for anything you do with this information. If
you get caught defrauding the telco, it is because you're a fucking
idiot who didn't take the precautions to stay anonymous.
-
Introduction: Pagers have brought many people together through a variety of
signaling format protocols - POCSAG, FLEX, GOLAY - transmission
speeds of 512, 1200, 2400 bps?! Standard Numeric, Alpha-Numeric,
Tone Pagers? Oh the variety, oh the fun!
Word on the street says that American and Canadian carriers are
looking into phasing out pagers in the next couple of years.
Hell, I even received some promotional material from Telus
Mobility offering me cheap CDMA service if I cancelled my pager
service through them! Apparently pager systems cost a lot to
maintain, and over the last few years, less people even bother
to use pagers due to the simple fact that wireless phones offer
so many great features - Two Way Communication, Voice Mail,
Short Message Service, Games, High Speed Data Transfers (GPRS
and 1X), E-mail, Internet, and more. No freaking wonder pagers
are on their way out, and cell phones continue to grow in
popularity. However, until pagers are completely wiped out,
this paper will still be very relevant.
FACT: Wireless Carriers in Canada do not want customers to know the
low-tech and high-tech tricks / exploits that let people abuse
their service and use it to make free calls.
-
The Canadian Pager Carrier Billing Flaw:
As you may or may not be aware, Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility do not
have any type of billing system set up that logs direct or third party
billing to their residential / business customers -- I have verified this
claim with over 5 different customer service agents for both wireless
carriers.
Since Bell and Telus do not log any billing, they have come up with a
simple and effective way to stop people from billing pagers; all major
carriers in Canada share an "access list" of exchanges, prefixes and
suffixes that block all Canadian long distance carriers from billing to
any Canadian pagers.
To test this flaw out for yourself, call up Telus' "Canada Direct" number
at 1-800-646-0000 and enter any random pager number; you'll likely hear a
message saying something to the effect of: "The number you have dialed
cannot accept direct/3rd party billing." However with a little
experimenting, I noticed that many American long distance carriers do not
block a Canadian pager from receiving a direct or third-party charge. The
reason for this is because these companies don't have any of our updated
access lists.
! An unrelated note to Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility: Duh, stay outta
Riverdale!
-
How to set this up:
Before you do anything, you need to set yourself up a pager that allows you
to record a voice-greeting.
There are a few ways in which you can do this...
1. Use your own pager or a friends pager. In understandable English, set the
voice greeting to say "yes" for approximately 25 to 30 seconds. Speak
slowly and pause for about half a second between each "yes".
2. Hack into a pager. Most users have their remote admin pager pins set as
"1234", "9999", "5555", the current year (2002), or the last four digits
of their pager phone number. For most Telus Mobility pagers, the default
password is the last four digits of the customer's unique 'capcode'. The
capcode is a series of numbers at the bottom of the label, below the
Model, Serial Number, Country Code, and ISC code.
The "Fun" part:
Once you have successfully set up the pager greeting, you'll need to test
out this billing flaw. Make sure you don't get a live operator to authorize
your billing. Instead, use a service that has an automated billing operator.
A good resource to utilize is Yahoo!'s 'Business and Economy' web-page which
has a great alphabetical listing of various American long-distance carriers
that you can exploit. The address for that listing is:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Communications_and_Networking/Telecommunications/Long_Distance_Telephone/
--
Conclusion:
Although this trick was fairly simple and this file wasn't the most technical
of articles I've ever written, the fact of the matter is: everyone assumes
that pagers (like cellular phones) are never vulnerable to fraud, or that
pager billing systems are not without their major billing flaws. This file
certainly changed all of that, now didn't it? :)
--
Decent Pager Research Web-sites:
Here are some URL's for all the technology enthusiasts out
there who might want to learn a thing or two about pagers:
* Black Crawling Systems Archives: Pager Programming, Monitoring, & Applications
http://www.hackcanada.com/blackcrawl/cell/pager/pager.html
* Nettwerked - FLEX Technology: Paging Protocol
http://www.nettwerked.net/FLEX_Technologies.html
[dot-e-0h-eph]
--
<caesium> theclone is only like canada's fucking largest phreak... he is more inventive than your ass.. but you just
enjoy knockin ppl...
<NTOSKRNL> oooooh guns guns guns
<dec0de> yeah
<dec0de> i don't think i'd want to knock theclone. he's a powerful guy
<dec0de> plus we are friends, so...
<NTOSKRNL> powerful like a school janitor?
<NTOSKRNL> rofl
<dec0de> you'd be surpised
--
A Technical Depantsing of The Samsung SCH-3500 PCS Phone
Compiled by Kodin for Nettwerked 12-Oct-2002
* * *
DISCLAIMER
It is possible to disable or otherwise damage your phone using the information
contained in this document. The author accepts no responsibility for the actions
of those who would choose to abuse the knowledge here in.
* * *
LINKS
Samsung's user guide for the SCH-3500 can be found in Acrobat PDF format at:
www.samsungwirelesscanada.com/owners_manual/sch-3500-en.pdf
* * *
THE SVC MENU
The Svc Menu can be accessed in one of 2 ways:
1) Enter:
[MENU] 6 0
You will then be asked to enter the 6 digit service code for your phone.
If you do not know the service code, you will have to use the backdoor sequence below.
2) Enter the following as if it were a phone number:
47*869#08#9
It may be possible to render your phone inoperable by changing the values below so proceed
with caution and at your own risk.
In the Svc Menu, [OK] is used to accept or scroll through current values. [CLR] is used to
return you to the previous menu from the current menu. Pressing [CLR] while viewing a value
will erase that value so use caution. Pressing the [END] key will exit the Svc Menu and reboot
the phone.
>From the Svc Menu, you have 4 options:
Phone# View or change phone and ID number for either of 2 available NAMS
* The above will reset your 4 digit lock code to the last 4 digits of
your phone number
General View or change various values such as your ESN and 4 digit lock code
NAM1 View or change values for NAM1 (see next section: NAM PROGRAMMING)
NAM2 View or change values for NAM2 (see next section: NAM PROGRAMMING)
* * *
NAM PROGRAMMING
Procedure:
1) If using a battery, check to ensure battery is fully charged.
2) Enter the Svc Menu by using one of the 2 methods described in the preceding section.
3) Phone displays:
Svc Menu
1:Phone#
2:General
3:NAM1
4:NAM2
4) Press [1] to enter Phone Number programming.
5) Phone displays:
Phone#
1: NAM1
2: NAM2
6) Select 1 for NAM 1 programming or 2 for NAM 2 programming.
7) Enter area code and wireless phone number (10 digits).
8) Press [OK]. Mobile ID will display (Same as wireless phone number).
9) Press [OK]. The unit will then return to the Svc Menu.
10) Press 2 for General and the ESN is displayed.
11) Press [OK]. The CAI version (1, 2, or 3) will be displayed.
13) Press [OK]. To set the phone to either EVRC or 13K, press the [*] or [#] key to
toggle the available options. Phone displays: SO_VOICE_EVRC or
SO_VOICE_13K.
14) Press [OK]. SCM will be displayed: 10101010.
15) Press [OK]. The lock code can be changed now if desired (default is
last 4 digits of MIN).
16) Press [OK]. Slot mode should be YES.
17) Press [OK]. Slot index should be 2.
18) Press [OK]. The unit will then return to the Svc Menu.
19) Press [3] for NAM1 or [4] for NAM2.
20) Phone displays: IMSI_MCC (The phone should display 302 for a Canadian
Subscriber number, 310 for a U.S. Subscriber number. If not,
enter the correct number at this time).
21) Press [OK].
22) Phone displays: IMSI_MNC 3.
23) Press [OK].
24) Phone displays: CDMA ACCOLC (CDMA Access overload class) (Last digit
of phone number displayed here). This is a "read only" number. The
access overload number is automatically set to the last digit of the
MIN and can not be changed.
25) Press [OK].
26) Phone displays: CDMA Home SID (CDMA Home System ID option). Yes.
27) Press [OK].
28) Phone displays: CDMA fSID (CDMA foreign SID). Yes.
29) Press [OK].
30) Phone displays: CDMA fNID (foreign network ID). Yes.
31) Press [OK].
32) Phone displays: Home SID #1.
33) Enter Home SID (system identification) number from your Network
Service Provider.
34) Press [OK].
35) Phone displays: NID #1.
36) Enter NID number from your Network Service Provider (Default from the
factory is 65535).
37) Press [OK].
Note: Unless multiple SIDs are used, the following values will be 0.
38) Phone displays: Home SID #2. 0.
39) Press [OK].
40) Phone displays: NID #2. 0.
41) Press [OK].
42) Phone displays: Home SID #3. 0.
43) Press [OK].
44) Phone displays: NID #3. 0.
45) Press [OK].
46) Phone displays: Home SID #4. 0.
47) Press [OK].
48) Phone displays: NID #4. 0.
49) Press [OK], phone returns to SVC Menu.
50) If the second NAM will be used, Press 4 to program NAM 2 and repeat
the above steps.
51) Press [END].
52) Phone will cycle power off then back on.
Programming Complete
To activate your phone under your current service provider, contact their
activations department and give them your phone's 10 digit electronic serial
number (ESN) to add to your account. The ESN is usually found on the bar code
sticker on the back of the phone under the battery.
* * *
THE DEBUG MENU
To access the debug menu, enter:
[MENU] 9 0
You will then be asked to enter the 6 digit service code for your phone.
If you do not know your service code, I can't help you. I do not know the back
door sequence for the Debug Menu.
>From the Debug Menu, you have 4 options:
Screen Displays information about the PCS network
TestCalls 4 different numbers that test the phone's reception of the signal
Errors Displays the last 20 errors that the phone has recorded
EraseError Clears the above list
* * *
THE BROWSER MENU
To access the Browser Menu, enter
[MENU] 9
You then have to hold down the # key for 2 seconds and then you will be asked to
enter your 4 digit lock code.
>From the Browser Menu you can view or change the IP addresses for any of the 3 gateways.
* * *
THE TEST MENU
Access to the test menu is obtained by entering as a phone number:
47*869#1235
I have listed the available 2 digit commands below but I can not claim understanding of
what most of them do. It may be possible to render your phone inoperable by changing the
values below so proceed with caution and at your own risk.
Selections with the C> before them are changeable values. To avoid changing the value,
press #. To change the value, make note of the old value, enter the new value and then
press #.
Selections with the S> before them are scrollable values. To scroll through the data,
repeatedly press *.
Selections with the V> before them are variable values. These values are gauges and change
automatically to reflect different conditions of your phone such as current battery life.
To stop the gauge and enter another command, press #.
Please be aware that some of the variables given in the list below are unique to my phone
and are not necessarily correct for any other.
01 Suspend
02 Reset (exit test mode and reboot phone)
04 PCS mode
07 Carrier On
08 Carrier Off
C> 09 Chan____1025
C> 10 Pwr level__2
11 Rx mute
12 Rx unmute
13 Tx mute
14 Tx unmute
16 ST on
17 ST off
C> 18 LCD_CONT: 11
C> 20 TEST_S:00000
S> 22 Send NAM
S> 23 Send S/W Ver
S> 24 Send ESN
25 Backlight ON
26 BacklightOFF
27 LAMP ON
28 LAMP OFF
S> 30 Product Info
C> 32 SAT on_____0
33 SAT off
34 CDATA
C> 37 SDT LEVEL 00
38 SIDETONE ON
39 SIDETONE OFF
C> 40 CD RXagc_230
C> 41 Ext.Audio? 1
C> 42 DTMF on____0
43 DTMF off
44 Compand On
45 Compand Off
46 Voice state
C> 47 AUD lvl__040
48 Vibrator On
49 Vibrator Off
V> 50 Btype=171(6)
C> 51 BBASIC_____2
C> 52 H/W:3500.07Q
C> 53 MIC LEVEL 00
C> 54 SPK LEVEL 13
C> 55 MIC Path 1
C> 56 SPK Path 1
57 MIC unmute
58 MIC mute
59 Unmute all
C> 60 Tx Gain__034
C> 61 Rx Gain__069
C> 62 DTMF vol_075
C> 63 TxLimit__070
C> 64 SAT lvl__188
C> 65 FreqGain_031
C> 66 ST lvl___045
S> 67 RD Batt Val
V> 68 StbyBatt_222
V> 69 TaklBatt_222
C> 70 WR Batt__180
C> 71 CD TXagc_000
C> 72 FM TXagc_230
C> 73 Set R1/R0__0
C> 74 30.0dBm[00]
TXRAS[00]399
V> 75 RD Rssi__033
C> 76 WR Rssi__148
V> 77 RD TEMP__126
V> 78 RD HDET_____
C> 79 Buzzer On_ 0
80 Buzzer Off
81 PCM loop On
82 PCM loop Off
V> 83 100.7dBm[01]
RXRAS[01]100
C> 84 -EVRC TEST-
EVRC CMD: 00
85 Speaker on
86 Speaker off
87 FM_LOOP_BACK
C> 88 TRK adj _270
C> 89 CdTk adj_131
C> 90 HW CHANFLAT
HW ChNo:0000
C> 91 SW CHANFLAT
SW ChNo:0000
C> 92 < 25.50 dBm>
TXpwr[02]393
C> 93 < Chan 991 >
ChNo[01]_316
C> 94 106.0dBm[00]
RXRAS :__096
C> 95 pHW CHANFLAT
Chan No_0991
C> 96 pSW CHANFLAT
Chan No_0991
C> 97 < pCH 050>
CHAN[01]_409
98 DATASVC ON
99 DATASVC OFF
--
<phlux> fuck
<phlux> closest thing i got is some jewish x files anime alien sex porn where scully is being raped by aliens
--
The Forth Programming Language - Why YOU should learn it
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The forth programming language is radically different from conventional
programming languages. It bears little resemblance to C, Java, Pascal,
Lisp, Python, etc. This short article will not attempt to teach you the forth
language, but instead give you a taste of what forth has to offer, give
you a general idea of what the language is, and point you in the direction
of various forth resources.
The forth programming language was originally formalized in the early
70s by Chuck Moore, but it's beginnings predate that by several years,
mostly as a small, specialized programming platform for various systems.
After forth began to become more well known, 2 driving forces instantiated
to promote forth use: Forth, Inc. and the non-profit Forth Interest Group
(FIG). Forth had a brief stint with popularity after microcomputers
were introduced, often being the first language to support the new
microprocessors, but soon fell into relative obscurity in mainstream
programming.
Forth is unique in that the evolution and acceptance of it has
proceeded as an entirely grassroots effort. Large industry has never
backed or supported forth, and has always driven the development and
use of more "conventional" programming languages, such as C.
With a few exceptions, forth is also unique in how diversified the language
is. Unlike, say LISP, though, there seems to be a common thread among
forths giving the community a particular unity. However, forth is the
only programming language that has a strong, vocal user community that is
actively against the ANSI standard of it's language, and chooses not to
upport it. There are many reasons for this viewpoint, none of which a
beginner will notice until they become better acquainted with the language.
Forth is built upon the belief that every implementation aspect of the
language should be as simple as possible, and that all complexity should
be built upon this base of simplicity. Forth philosphy also insists that
in extreme flexibility. This flexibility is overwhelming to many new
forth users, and often gives them a bad taste for the language.
Because of this philosophy forth programs are known for their small
codesize, low memory usage, powerful flexibility, and difficulty to
understand. :)
Forth is, at heart, a system programmer's programming language because
of it's remarkable flexibility. An endless stream of people have extended
forth to support their preferred programming and usage preferences.
Forth was, interestingly, a very early language to support Object
Oriented programming. People have added GOTO statements to forth.
Transparent support for C structures has been added. "Local variables"
have been developped for forth (this is a hot topic in the Forth communities,
by the way). People have developed sophisticated GUIs in forth. Forth code
has run on the space shuttle.
Forth is usually considered much more than a programming language though.
It's also (sometimes) an operating system, an Integrated Development
Environment, a debugger, a run-time environment, an interpreter, and a
programming methodology.
At the heart of forth is a variable called "state". Generally, state
represents either interpret mode or compile mode, and this variable
will influence almost everything done by the system. Most forth
introductions don't find it necessary to introduce state until much
later in the learning period, but I think that the ability to flip
between compilation and interpretation mode (execution semantics)
is the most important defining feature of forth.
More visibly, forth provides the user with 2 stacks of small, fixed
cell size (typically 32 or 64 bits on modern computers). Forth provides
direct access to these stacks. This is in marked contrast to most languages.
Most languages, like C, use 1 stack of large "stack frames" that the user
is not permitted to directly access.
One interesting result of this design decision that I like to point out
to new forth programmers is that your functions (called "words" in forth
- I'll get to them) are no longer limited to returning one item.
For instance, in C, your functions may look like this:
int my_func(int x, int y) {
...
return 10;
}
As you can see, this function accepts 2 arguments and returns 1.
In C, there is no way to directly return 2 or more arguments without
allocating memory and passing pointers - a procedure that can get very
messy.
In forth, you have no such restrictions. If you want to return 2
items, go ahead. If you want to return 10 items, feel free. You're even
allowed to return 3 items sometimes, and 39 items other times. It's up
to the programmer.
Forth is generally said to be an "RPN" language. RPN stands for
"Reverse Polish Notation". RPN was originally invented by a, you guessed
it, polish professor, and is an effective way of expressing arithmetical
expressions without using parenthesis.
Everything is done on a stack. Numbers are pushed down, and operators
pop the numbers and preform operations on them.
For instance, the expression
(1+3)-2
would be written like this in RPN:
1 3 + 2 -
All programming in forth is done like this. If you want to program in
forth you have to learn to "think on the stack". Meaning, you have to
keep track of the "stack effects" of your functions as well as their
purpose.
The "dictionary" is the name of the append-oriented heap where your
forth "words" are stored. A word in forth is, simply, any combination
of displayable, non-whitespace characters that represents a location in
memory, and may have certain user-defined attributes.
"Everything in forth is a word or a number". This is almost true.
The word "+" takes the top 2 values off the stack, adds them, and pushes
the result onto the stack.
You can define your own words using the word ":". For instance, if you
wanted to make a word that would take the top number off the stack, add
42 to it, and press the result back onto the stack, you might write it
like so:
: add-42 42 + ;
When ":" is executed, it puts the "state" variable into compile mode.
Anything encountered now will be compiled into the add-42 definition.
When it sees 42, it recognizes it as a number, but since the forth
system is in compile mode, it compiles 42 into the definition. Next it
compiles "+". Then it encounters the word ";" which it executes. ";"
closes the add-42 definition, and returns "state" to interpret mode.
Astute readers will be wondering why ";" was executed instead of compiled.
This is because ";" is an immediate word. Immediate words are executed
no matter what the value of state is. Immediacy is a very powerful feature
in forth. Once you understand how immediate words are used to build up
everything in the language, you will have understood the most important part
of forth, that which I will not even try to describe here.
You can, in turn, use "add-42" in interpret mode, or compile it into
other definitions:
Ex:
4 add-42 .
44 ok
: add-40 add-42 -2 + ;
ok
Here is a good point to note the stack effects of add-42. Notice how it
takes 1 argument and returns 1 argument? This may be relatively
obvious in this function, but as your words become more complex
you will want to keep track of the stack effects. Forth programmers
often do that like so:
: add-42 ( n -- n' ) 42 + ;
The word "(" is an immediate word that will force forth to ignore everything
until a ")" is encountered. Not that ")" is NOT a word. Nor is anything
between the parens. IMPORTANT: Note that "(" is followed by a space.
This is vital. The word is "(", not "(n". So, as you can see, parens
function similarly to C's /* and */. The word "\" in forth is analogous
to C++'s "//".
The contents of the comment is what's signifigant. The text before the
"--" indicates the arguments passed to the function, and the text after
indicates the values returned on the stack. The convention is that
the numbers closest to the left are higher on the stack.
Be careful using ":" though. If you add words that already exist in the
dictionary, the "redefined" words will not be readily accessible. Experienced
forth programmers will take advantage of this for a number of reasons, but
a beginner should be careful to avoid this.
As stated before, a word can be any combination of non-whitespace,
displayable ASCII characters. There is nothing stopping a number (called
a "literal" in forth) from being a word either.
This is perfectly valid:
: 1 2 ;
Now 1 is effectively 2, so be careful. :)
Incidentally, most forth systems define words called "0" and "1". This
is because a compiled word takes less memory than a compiled literal, and
0 and 1 are numbers used so often that signifigant memory can be saved using
this technique.
I mentioned that forth had 2 stacks. The data stack (aka paramater stack)
is the one we've been focusing on so far. The return stack is the second
kind of stack, and is used to store addresses so that after a word is
executed, forth knows where to resume execution. You can move data to
and from the return stack and the data stack with the words ">r" and "r>".1
I wouldn't suggest doing this until you understand forth more thouroughly
though.
An experienced C programmer will be able to tell you that a return address
and a function's "local variables" are stored in the same stackframe,
making it trivial to write over the return address. This particular
attribute of C has resulted in decades of insecure systems open to
anyone with enough audacity to overflow a buffer. Forth greatly
complicates this particular attack. Also, forth stores strings not
as arrays of characters terminated by a "NULL byte", but as an array
of unterminated characters and a "count" of the length of said array.
As such, there are no such equivalents to C's strcpy() and gets() in forth.
These 2 attributes make forth particularly resilient to buffer overflow
attacks. Format strings also do not exist in Forth, ruling out another
very popular attack.
The last core feature of forth is the "parse buffer". It's where your
text goes when you type stuff into forth. Normally forth parses a word
delimited by white space, moves the parse pointer ahead to the next word,
and executes the parsed word, and this continues indefinitley. When
there is no more data available, it goes into interactive mode and
accepts the words from stdin.
Words can, however, modify the parse buffer. One common word for this
is "'", pronounced "tick", which parses the next word in the buffer,
looks up that word in the dictionary, presses this address onto the stack,
and advances the parse buffer pointer. This is very useful in forth,
although I won't explain why here.
I hope this brief introduction to forth has been enough to tickle your
curiosity. Just for fun, here's a listing of the words in a fully stocked
"system" dictionary in my forth.
HardCore SoftWare's FORTH system: FRUGAL V0.9.8
ok
words
( 250 WORDS - 18361 BYTES )
intro bye iset> icreate choose rand reseed rand-num dump-line 8c. 8h. c. h.
abort see procprint words bytes-and-words 'print print-word forget forget-addr
.s term-clear-to-bot term-clear-to-top term-clear-line term-clear-to-sol
term-clear-to-eol term-scroll-up term-scroll-down term-enable-scroll
term-unsave term-save term-backward term-forward term-down term-up term-xy
term-home term-cur-off term-cur-on term-wrap-off term-wrap-on term-cls
term-attr term-bg term-fg hidden reverse blink underscore dim bright restore
white cyan magenta blue yellow green red black emesc emchar rawkey key accept
.( ." s" ," cmove movechar char, char type spaces space bl cr unlink num'
move movecell depth ? +! hex decimal octal binary abs max min 2/ 2* 1- 1+
negate . printnum recurse; recurse leave loop +loop do until while again
begin then else if isunseeable unseeable exit postpone compile cmp ] [
?branch branch #, 1 0 HEADER_LEN VM_IFBRANCH VM_BRANCH VM_NUMBER VM_PRIMITIVE
UNSEEABLE COMPILE-ONLY IMMEDIATE READ-WRITE WRITE-ONLY READ-ONLY STDOUT
STDIN 2@ 2! chars char+ cells cell+ 2variable variable var const constant
allot here ms j' j i' i >= <= <> 0= 2dup 2over 2drop 2swap tuck nip rot swap
over dup #! ( \ quit acceptconn openlistener openconn iptodns dnstoip poll
close write read chdir open fork gettime time@ usleep flush term-raw-off
term-raw-on ver include" l base die pad xor or and urshift ulshift rshift
lshift c, c! c@ rp sp r0 s0 qpnum emit state r> >r mod / * - + @ ! roll pick
drop = > < source >in ' '-addr ; : create create-addr parse , reset
compile-only immediate h query interpret number compile-exit
ok
Here's where you can download my forth implementation:
http://www.hcsw.org/frugal/
It comes included with a pong game, 2 encryption implementations,
1 cryptographically secure random number generator, a powerful forth
debugger, a basic webserver, and more!
There's a more comprehensive tutorial included in the file docs/USING
in the latest frugal download.
For online forth help, visit irc.freenode.net #forth
There are many helpful people there who will help you get started with forth.
Forth is not an especially easy language to learn when compared to
other languages, simply because it gives you complete access and control
over every aspect of the programming system. Chuck Moore once described
other languages as dampeners, and forth as an amplifier. What he meant
was that in most languages, the programming techniques are sufficiently
abstracted and set at the "lowest common denominator" that good programmers
will not do a signifigantly better job than bad programmers. Perl code is
always between "kinda good" and "kinda bad". Forth on the other hand,
amplifies the programmer's skill. A good programmer can write incredible
forth code. A bad programmer can write absolutely stinking terrible forth
code.
Regardless of your programming skill, forth is useful to learn just for
the feeling of enlightenment you'll feel when you finally "get it". I
encourage you to investigate forth further even if it just to realize that
there are other ways of programming besides C and it's derivatives.
Fractal
www.hcsw.org/frugal/
--
<khemfusion> Now there is nothing wrong with a terabyte of hardcore pornography every now and then
--
The Great Canadian Scam of 2002
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Behind closed doors, the government of Alberta must be meeting with the
large oil companies. Indeed, I can think of no other reason why a government
would act so quickly, venemously, and without concern for the well-being
of it's citizens and the environment, simply in order to protect
a private interest. Certainly, and I don't think this can be questioned by
any reasonably unbiased objective thinking, the various Albertan petroleum
corporations are in direct control of Ralph Klien and the Albertan government.
Alberta is in the middle of one of the worst droughts in recorded history,
yet the oil companies insist that implementing the Kyoto accord would be
disastrous to the economy. Ironically, *not implementing* the Kyoto
protocol could potentially result in vast amounts of long-term damage to the
Albertan economy by devasting the (sustainable) Albertan farming industry
while temporarily protecting the (unsustainable) petroleum mining industry.
The Kyoto accord may cause a change in the economy. This is true.
Wealth may be distributed from oil companies to solar or wind energy companies.
Either way, there is no real evidence to suggest that Alberta's economy will
be harmed from this agreement.
Putting aside the economic arguments for a moment, burning fosil fuels for
energy is expensive, inefficient, polluting, and non-renewable. This energy
source could have, and should have, been entirely replaced decades ago.
This is not what I intend to talk about now, however. I intend to talk
about how the oil companies are consciously and determininately lying,
spreading fear/uncertainty/doubt, "financially influencing" public officials,
etc. with the sole goal of protecting their financial interests by molding
public opinion - with the public's own money! I don't know where you come
from, but where I come from, this is called "fraud". This incredibly audacious
scam may seem unbelievable to most. I know that I, for one, was shocked
that something like this would be allowed to happen in a relatively
free country like Canada. I intend to try to open the reader's eyes up
to what actually is happening, but I am sure that I have no real idea of the
raw power wielded by these international corporations.
The Alberta government has spent $1.5 million dollars of the public's money
in a massive television, newspaper, and radio campaign. Is it any suprise
that Albertans have undergone a "radical change of opinion" on the subject
of the Kyoto Accord? I think not. This is clearly the calculated result of
the scare campgain led by the oil companies, who (just as clearly) have
financial control over said government.
Is it any more of a suprise that an Albertan doctor was fired by the
Albertan government for speaking out for the Kyoto Protocol? Not really,
Having a public health official discuss the imminent threats that are posed
to our health if global warming continues unchecked could be very thought
provoking to a section of the population.
THE TACTIC
~~~~~~~~~~
Since governments are the most influential institutions in lawmaking
(by definition) ensure that lose control of the government is maintained
at all levels. Preserve the appearance of a public controlled government
to provide "legitimacy" to your actions.
Ensure that the public's available information reads as is necessary for
maintaining control over the relevant governments. Accomplish this by
any means possible, especially by using the media's public-influence
"services".
It's a relatively straightforward idea, and one that, understandably, gets
very little support in the mainstream media: The free market is not driven
by competition. Since competition results in lower prices, more expensive
manufacturing processes, longer lasting products, and more selective
consumers, it does not benefit any corporation's interests. Authentic
competition only results when it is mutually beneficial to the corporations.
In order to optimize this lack of competition, corporations are intimitatley
linked together at all levels of operation, and since all of them are
interested in maintaining the status quo, they cooperate in manipulating
the publics opinion to do so.
Earlier in history, corporations would use physical coersion to enforce
ideas upon the people (think coffee trade). After the American civil war,
America began a slow and steady process of incorporation. After WWII, there
was no sector of the economy, media, or government that wasn't directly
controlled by wealthy private interests. This new era demanded a different
method of controlling people's opinions: Restriction of information. The radio
stations, television stations, book publishers, magazine/newspaper publishers,
and children's textbook publishers were all (and still are) controlled almost
exclusively by corporations. By carefully omitting pieces of information
the status quo can effectively erase facts and opinions from the public's
memory. Since all the corporations are linked together, vital pieces of
information relating to consumer information, foreign issues, and even
public health is influenced by this massive information censorship
program (think tobacco companies).
This relates quite directly to the Kyoto issue:
The US' system of controlling public opinion has recently been taken up
by the large Canadian corporations (think Canwest). This is particularly
noticable in Alberta, where almost all services have been privatized, and
the government clearly does NOT represent the interests of the people.
Now you know the motive and the method. It's up to. Is this expensive
brainwashing campaign justified?
I urge the hacker community not to embrace corporate "culture" like the
majority of western generations before ours. The plot to kill the
Kyoto accord is just one example of how these incredibly powerful entities
are influencing your future (and the future of our planet). These entities
are not affected by borders, have no ethics, suffer virtually no
accountability for their actions, and have more money than they know what
to do with. Do you really want to trust them to choose your future?
Fractal
www.hcsw.org
--
-- Credits
Without the following contributions, this zine issue would be
fairly delayed or not released. So thank you to the following people:
CYB0RG/ASM, Fractal, Kodin, Phlux, The Clone
-- Shouts:
CYB0RG/ASM, Wildman, H410g3n, warVamp, The Question, plappy, Phlux,
rt, Magma, Hack Canada, The Grasshopper Unit, Flippersmack, soapie,
littleyellowdot, Breanne, Flopik, dwr, Azriel J. Knight, Coercion,
dec0de, caesium, oz0n3, Kris, all the cool to2600.org ppl, and lastly
to everyone and anyone who contributes to the Canadian H/P scene.
;. .;.. ; ;. ;..
;.. .;..; .;.; .;; ;..
.;..;. .;..; .;.;...; ;..;..
.;. A .;. .;.
;.. N E T T W E R K E D ;..
;..;.. P R O D U C T ;..;..
.;..; ;..;..
; .;..;.;.. .; . .;. ..;..
.;.. . .; ..;..;..;.. .;
;..;. .;.. . .;.. .;.;.
..;. ..;.. .;. ;.;..;;..;.;
;.;;..;.. ;.;.; .; .
;.;..;. .;. ;.;:.;.
,;....;.
.;.;. .;.;
.;.;.;
.;.;
;..;.
.;.;;.; .;. ..; ;. > > > > > > ... To all the Pop-Tarts out there doing crazy dances for
ravers and thugs, we salute you with:
"PewwwwuuuuuuT!"
<dec0de> results may vary