Q. How much faster can you develop programs in Forth compared to C?
A. This depends on the type of application and what is already available. Almost all programs are not so much written as “ported” from similar programs. It is very unusual to see the same application written in both Forth and C, so comparison of development times must be anecdotal. For embedded, non-multitasking applications I would put the ratio of Forth:C development times at around 1:2 to 1:3. For embedded multitasking applications at between 1:4 to 1:6, and for PC based Windows applications about 1:4. Others have suggested figures of 1:10 or even higher. I think 1:pi is about right.