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<H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Mud Languages</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev] Mud Languages</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</A></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 13 Aug 97 16:14:49 -0700</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-to</em>: <A HREF="mailto:claw#null,net">claw#null,net</A></LI>
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<PRE>
In <<A HREF="msg00415.html">Pine.LNX.3.91.970806171649.7562V-100000#uni-corn,demon.co.uk</A>>, on
08/06/97
at 07:57 PM, Greg Munt <greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk> said:
>I'm thinking that designing a language blindly would be a Bad Thing.
>Since subscribers to this list would probably have wide-reaching
>experiences in many languages, I'd be interested in, say, a list of
>the top five best and worst features of a language (features
>specific to a certain language, in addition to generic attributes).
Unfortunately a good answer to this question would require several
walls of encyclopedia sized books (you could start with the infamous
dragon book). I'm also not that interested.
My approach steals a lot from Mike Cowlishaw's own design goals with
REXX (I think you can still find them listed on his home page): Keep
it very simple, and obvious for new non-programmer types. This mostly
resulted in making the language typeless, having no concept of
pointers to data or pointers to methods, having a very small set of
reserved words, and trying to concentrate on doing basic common
operations easily.
I also want my language to be at least somewhat friendly to
programmers. This leads to taking the same general view taht ColdC
does, and using something C-like.
As a result my language is almost identical to C with the following
exceptions:
Variables may be "temporary", which means that their values will not
be preserved across method/object invocations, or "permanent" which
means that their value will be preserved.
Variables are scoped to the block they are defined in.
Variables may not be defined at a global (game or object) scope.
No pointers.
No concept of memory allocation or memory handling.
No concept of file IO (there are minor exceptions).
Typeless.
Code blocking is via { and } braces.
Code syntax is largely identical to C.
White space insensitive.
Semi-colons are only required between statements on the same
line (ie white space sensitive)
Implicit types enclude:
integer (currently 32bit, soon 64bit),
IEEE float,
length limited 8bit string,
time in seconds,
ObjectID,
exception ID
All functions/methods have a return value.
Explicit list support (ie any variable can be a list of values,
and each value in turn can be another list).
Very simple/fast support for searching lists.
All functions/methods return exceptions every time they return.
A normal return is merely an exception that doesn't require
a special handler (ie ERR_OKAY is not trapped, and requires no
handler, all other exceptions are processed as critical stack
unwinding exceptions.
A function/method return consists of an exception and a
typeless value.
Big positive influences: C, Cool and Interlude (tho I hate Interlude's
LISP underpinnings), ksh, APL.
Big negative influences: C (good and bad), Cold/ColdC, MOO, Tiny-*,
LPC, Pike, Forth, Pascal, C++, APL (yep, both sides). ML/SML, lisp.
--
J C Lawrence Internet: claw#null,net
(Contractor) Internet: coder#ibm,net
---------------(*) Internet: clawrenc#cup,hp.com
...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...
</PRE>
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<LI><STRONG><A NAME="00415" HREF="msg00415.html">Mud Languages</A></STRONG>
<UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Greg Munt <greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk></LI></UL></LI>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Spellcaster, or Waving Hands</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00614" HREF="msg00614.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Spellcaster, or Waving Hands</A></strong>,
clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Fri 15 Aug 1997, 22:39 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00615" HREF="msg00615.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Spellcaster, or Waving Hands</A></strong>,
Jeff Kesselman <a href="mailto:jeffk#tenetwork,com">jeffk#tenetwork,com</a>, Fri 15 Aug 1997, 23:05 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00416" HREF="msg00416.html">Interview with Richard Bartle</A></strong>,
clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Thu 07 Aug 1997, 01:00 GMT
<LI><strong><A NAME="00415" HREF="msg00415.html">Mud Languages</A></strong>,
Greg Munt <a href="mailto:greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk">greg#uni-corn,demon.co.uk</a>, Thu 07 Aug 1997, 00:46 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00525" HREF="msg00525.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Mud Languages</A></strong>,
clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Wed 13 Aug 1997, 23:39 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00414" HREF="msg00414.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Generalized AI last try!</A></strong>,
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Wed 06 Aug 1997, 22:50 GMT
<LI><strong><A NAME="00413" HREF="msg00413.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] PirateMUD and CSL</A></strong>,
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Wed 06 Aug 1997, 22:13 GMT
<UL>
<li><Possible follow-up(s)><br>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00534" HREF="msg00534.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] PirateMUD and CSL</A></strong>,
Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Thu 14 Aug 1997, 00:53 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00573" HREF="msg00573.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] PirateMUD and CSL</A></strong>,
clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Thu 14 Aug 1997, 21:25 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>
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