[astrobe_]

Be it kernel programming or Forth, the cultural shock can hit hard.

Most programming languages try their best to make things easier than easy, in order to maximize programmers' productivity. The focus on this parameter alone over-promotes the "worse is better" or "good enough" mindset.

That doesn't fare well with kernel programming. It's even worse with Forth. As soon as your "word" (function in Forth lingo) has to deal with more than two or three variables, you're in trouble. As soon as you have more than two levels of control-flow structures, nightmares begin.

If you're looking for programming practice then I recommend Forth. It may or may not be a "practical" language for you, but it makes you really think about complexity.

[0xdeadbeefbabe]

Forth was practical when it was invented though.

[PeCaN]

Still is practical, OpenBoot/OpenFirmware is still what boots big IBM POWER servers. Not sure if Oracle still uses it but Sun did.

OpenBoot is basically like UEFI but less complex and written in a Forth dialect. It's quite cool.