Editing Threaded code (section)

===Direct threading===
Addresses in the thread are the addresses of machine language. This form is simple, but may have overheads because the thread consists only of machine addresses, so all further parameters must be loaded indirectly from memory. Some Forth systems produce direct-threaded code. On many machines direct-threading is faster than subroutine threading (see reference below).

An example of a [[stack machine]] might execute the sequence "push A, push B, add". That might be translated to the following thread and routines, where <code>ip</code> is initialized to the address labeled <code>thread</code> (i.e., the address where <code>&pushA</code> is stored).

<syntaxhighlight lang="c">
#define PUSH(x) (*sp++ = (x))
#define POP() (*--sp)
start:
  ip = &thread  // ip points to &pushA (which points to the first instruction of pushA)
  jump *ip++  // send control to first instruction of pushA and advance ip to &pushB
thread:
  &pushA
  &pushB
  &add
  ...
pushA:
  PUSH(A)
  jump *ip++ // send control where ip says to (i.e. to pushB) and advance ip
pushB:
  PUSH(B)
  jump *ip++
add:
  result = POP() + POP()
  PUSH(result)
  jump *ip++
</syntaxhighlight>

Alternatively, operands may be included in the thread. This can remove some indirection needed above, but makes the thread larger:

<syntaxhighlight lang="c">
#define PUSH(x) (*sp++ = (x))
#define POP() (*--sp)
start:
  ip = &thread
  jump *ip++
thread:
  &push
  &A  // address where A is stored, not literal A
  &push
  &B
  &add
  ...
push:
  variable_address = *ip++ // must move ip past operand address, since it is not a subroutine address
  PUSH(*variable_address) // Read value from variable and push on stack
  jump *ip++
add:
  result = POP() + POP()
  PUSH(result)
  jump *ip++
</syntaxhighlight>