A standard RETRO image only supports decimal base numbers. This shows a way to add support for multiple bases.

I begin by creating a variable for the current base and words to set this to specific values quickly.

~~~#10 'Base var-n   :decimal #10 !Base ; :binary  #2  !Base ; :octal   #8  !Base ; :hex     #16 !Base ; ~~~

Next, a string constant with the symbols for each digit. Note that I'm only going to support uppercase for hexadecimal.

~~~'0123456789ABCDEF 'DIGITS s:const ~~~

So conversion to a numeric value is pretty easy. The basic idea here is:

• set a variable to hold the numeric value to zero (as a stating point)
• check to see if the first character is - for negative, set a modifier
• for each character in the string:

• convert to a numeric value (in this case, it's the index in the
DIGITS string) • Multiply the last value of the number accumulator by the base
• Add the converted value
• Store the result in the number accumulator

• Multiply the final number by the modifier

~~~{{   'Number var   'Mod    var   :convert    (c-)  &DIGITS swap s:index/char @Number @Base * + !Number ;   :check-sign (s-s) dup fetch $- eq? [ #-1 !Mod n:inc ] [ #1 !Mod ] choose ; ---reveal---   :s:to-number-with-base (s-n)     #0 !Number check-sign [ convert ] s:for-each @Number @Mod * ; }} ~~~

Going the other way, back to a string, follows a similar process.

• Take a value
• Repeat:
• Divide by Base
• Convert result to character and append to a buffer
• If remainder is not zero, repeat
• If number is negative, append the '-' symbol to the buffer
• Reverse the buffer contents to return a string in the correct order

~~~{{   'String d:create   #12 allot   :check-sign (n-)   n:negative? [ $- buffer:add ] if ;   :n->digit   (n-c)  &DIGITS + fetch ;   :convert    (n-)   [ @Base /mod swap n->digit buffer:add dup n:zero? ] until drop ; ---reveal---   :n:to-string-with-base (n-s)     [ &String buffer:set dup n:abs convert check-sign ] buffer:preserve     &String s:reverse ; }} ~~~

The n:to-string-with-base returns a representation of binary numbers, but not the actual bitwise representation. The next word takes care of this.

~~~{{   'Selector var   :bit (f-c) [ $0 ] [ $1 ] choose ; ---reveal---   :n:binary-rep (n-s)     dup n:negative? [ n:inc &n:odd? ] [ &n:even? ] choose !Selector     [ s:empty buffer:set       #32 [ dup @Selector call bit buffer:add #2 / ] times drop       buffer:start s:reverse     ] buffer:preserve ; }} ~~~