Over time, there have been various language-specific CPUs, some so dedicated that it would be awkward to use them for a different language. For example, the Harris RTX-2000 was designed to run Forth. One could almost say it and other Forth CPUs were the language in hardware form. I'm not saying they understand the language, but they are designed to execute it at the "assembler" level.

Early on, Forth was known for being extremely memory efficient, fast, and, for programmers who could think bass-ackwards, quick to develop in. Having a CPU that could execute it almost directly was a no-brainers. However, memory got cheaper, CPU's got quicker, and programmers who liked thinking Forth got scarcer. (How many folks still use calculators in reverse Polish notation mode?)

Over time, there have been various language-specific CPUs, some so dedicated that it would be awkward to use them for a different language. For example, the Harris RTX-2000 was designed to run Forth. One could almost say it and other Forth CPUs were the language in hardware form. I'm not saying they understand the language, but they are designed to execute it at the "assembler" level.

Early on, Forth was known for being extremely memory efficient, fast, and, for programmers who could think bass-ackwards, quick to develop in. Having a CPU that could execute it almost directly was a no-brainer. However, memory got cheaper, CPU's got quicker, and programmers who liked thinking Forth got scarcer. (How many folks still use calculators in reverse Polish notation mode?)