xkcd Comic 3277: Forth

Overview

The Hacker News post links to xkcd comic 3277, which is titled "Forth" and features a list of webcomics the author enjoys together with a mock system requirement disclaimer at the bottom.

Comic Content

The comic displays two images: a placeholder labeled "Selected Comics" and a clickable thumbnail of the "Earth temperature timeline" from xkcd 1732. Below the images, the author lists the following webcomics: Three Word Phrase, SMBC, Dinosaur Comics, Oglaf (marked nsfw), A Softer World, Buttersafe, Perry Bible Fellowship, Questionable Content, Buttercup Festival, Homestuck, and Junior Scientist Power Hour.

Disclaimer

At the very bottom of the comic appears a block of text that reads:

xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS at a screen resolution of 1024x1. Please enable your ad blockers, disable high-heat drying, and remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode. For security reasons, please leave caps lock on while browsing.

A commenter noted that the font used for this disclaimer is all caps.

Hacker News Discussion

The post generated 50 comments, many of which reacted to the word "Forth" in the title and referenced the Forth programming language, while others made jokes about the disclaimer or shared personal anecdotes.

Commentary on Forth Language

One commenter asserted that Forth can be very readable and does not need to be written in a single line, stating that most commercial Forth source code includes comments, newlines, macros, and high‑level commands, countering the myth that it is "write only). The same commenter compared this perception to unfounded criticism of COBOL.

Personal Experiences

A user recalled their first programming experience involving a Minecraft computer running Forth, describing how they built a mining platform that repeated about 200 movements to collect blocks and used the computer block to orchestrate it.

Related Jokes and References

Several commenters made jokes that played on the word "Forth":

• One wrote "FORTH LOVE? IF HONK THEN" as a playful pseudo‑code snippet.
• Another mentioned seeing a similar joke years ago with Postscript.
• A user shared that their father proudly displayed a bumper sticker reading "FORTH <3 IF HONK THEN" and confirmed that people did honk.
• A comment in Japanese characters read "Iがforthをloveする", expressing love for Forth.
• A user predicted that someone would create a reverse‑Polish notation skill for interacting with Claude, claiming it would lead to various outcomes.

Miscellaneous Observations

• A commenter initially thought the comic was a spin on the phrase "May the fourth be with you" as Yoda might say it.
• Another user remarked that they had not noticed the disclaimer until seeing it again and quoted it in full, noting the all‑caps font.
• A brief comment simply stated "That beautiful is." without further explanation.
• A user asked for an explanation of the comic, indicating that some readers did not immediately understand the joke.
• A comment referenced DonHopkins’s "About" section on Hacker News as something that cannot be beaten, though it is only tangentially related.
• Finally, a user wondered whether the recent increased mention of Forth was a genuine trend or a personal frequency illusion ("plate‑o‑shrimp)).