> cram anything into a 6502
I noticed some people working on an LLVM backend for the 6502; I may revisit the C-64 target once that matures (it will generate better code than cc65, and I'm now relying on modern C features that cc65 doesn't support). I currently concentrate on getting LilyVM to do anything useful for me on modern systems. (I've got some more work that I haven't pushed yet; but I mainly need to finally start working on the compiler to bytecode, which is a larger can of worms than the VM. I might first re-implement Copycat on it.)
I'll be up to help. I've been programming in C for 30 years now (and still do). One of my "when I'm bored" projects is updating an early 90s C code base [1]. And I do have an interest in Forth, so this sounds like an interesting project. My email is on my profile.
[1] Viola, one of the first graphical web browsers that assumes sizeof(int) == sizeof(long) == sizeof(every pointer).
I'd be very happy for you to join some of the sessions that I initiated (if they will take place): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30973570
Copycat looks interesting. I can see how Stoical and Copycat are mirrors of each other.
As for LilyVM, trying to cram anything into a 6502 is an interesting exercise.