[ColorForth] memory allocation for windowing

[Richard Collins <rscollins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

With c4w I am going to built an application with a multiple document 
like interface, that is, there are lots of similar windows (same code 
different data), which can be open and closed in an *arbitary order*.

What would be the simple yet effective forth way of managing the memory 
required for each window? Each window is likely to require a different 
amount of memory, though no window is likely to need more than say 5KB. 
I can think of the following:

1) Implement multitasking with a separate dictionary for each task. Either:
a) Having completely separate dictionaries and recompiling (or copying, 
is the machine code fully relocatable?) each dictionary from scratch.
b) Having a base dictionary and task dictionary, searching them in order 
when compiling

2) Choose a maximum number of windows and preallocate that many 5K 
chunks of memory in the dictionary. If the user doesn't use them all, 
too bad some memory is wasted. If the user wants more windows, too bad 
they can't.

3) Implement a linked list based dynamic memory allocation system like 
is done with mainstream languages.

Until I try all three I doubt I'll have a real appreciation of the 
issues involved.

Can someone who has done this sort of thing before give me some advice?

Thanks, Richard Collins
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