Getting started with Factor

The latest Factor source is available from our git repository.

Checkout:

git clone git://factorcode.org/git/factor.git

Checkout from behind a restrictive corporate firewall:

git clone http://factorcode.org/git/factor.git

Update:

git pull

You will need to get the latest boot image to bootstrap the code in the git repository.

Compiling Factor

Note that more extensive instructions can be found in the README.txt file.

To compile the Factor VM, run make (gmake on *BSD).

Next, download the latest boot image for your architecture. Place the boot image in the Factor source directory, then bootstrap Factor:

./factor -i=boot.x86.32.image

If you are using Linux, you may need to install development packages (gcc, libc headers, xorg development libraries, ...) before compiling the VM. If you are using Windows, you will need Cygwin. On Mac OS X, you will need Apple's developer tools.

Starting the Factor environment

To start Factor,

Double-click Factor.app, or run open Factor.app (Mac OS X)
Double-click factor.exe (Windows)
Run ./factor (Unix)

On Windows and Mac OS X, this automatically starts the Factor UI, and on X11, it starts the UI if $DISPLAY is set.

The Factor environment includes extensive reference documentation and a short "cookbook" to help you get started. The best way to read the documentation is in the UI. Factor documentation may also be browsed online.

To see examples of Factor code, download the Factor distribution and take a look in the core/ and extra/ directories.

The Factor FAQ will answer the most common questions.

You can browse the Factor repository online.

A great way to get started with Factor is to join the #concatenative IRC channel on irc.freenode.net and introduce yourself. We are a friendly community and we like to help beginners. We also have a mailing list for discussing Factor. You can browse the list archive.