A "decent" language for II's

[2pw1brownt@vms.csd.mu.edu]

I'm wondering...

Am I the only person in the world who has longed for a "decent"
alternative to AppleSoft and assembly for a II+/IIe?

I'm looking for something that is small enough to leave a maximum
amount of memory free on, say, a II+, but is faster than BASIC and
has full access to ProDOS or DOS in a manner similar to BASIC.

It sounds like I'm describing some sort of Forth system, and I have
Mad Apple Forth but I don't like it's block disk access.  Besides,
it came with no documentation, I don't even have a glossary of words.

I also have HyperC, but it takes too long to compile things and I'm
not partial to C in the first place...

I'm I stuck with the above, or are there alternatives?  Specifically,
does anyone know of a stable Forth with normal disk access (i.e. files)
for either ProDOS or DOS?  Or maybe a language custom designed for the
Apple II?

Help appreciated, please email directly to the address below as I'm
using a friend's account to post this.

- Ron (kneusel@msupa.pa.msu.edu)