Getting started with Factor

Once you have downloaded a binary package or built from source, you can start start Factor as follows:

  • 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.

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.

Chris Double maintains a collection of Factor articles covering various advanced topics.

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.