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10736: Re: [MUD-Dev] Properties of computer languages
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From: "Travis S. Casey" <efindel@io.com>
Newsgroups: nu.kanga.list.mud-dev
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 11:20:22 -0500 (CDT)
References: [1]
Organization: Kanga.Nu
On Wed, 16 Jun 1999, Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:
> I'm in the process of redesigning the macro language of my game, and I
> recall seeing at one time a list... a very short list... of things that a
> computer language absolutely required. Sort of a bare-bones "what you need
> to do everything you need to do in any given program". Two of the things on
> the list were conditionals (if/then/else) and iteration (for/next and
> do/while). There were either two or three other things listed, but I don't
> remember what they were. Does anyone here have a memory spark going off as
> to what list I'm talking about and where I can find it? I think one of the
> other things was something along the lines of subroutine/function declaration.
For a practical minimum, I suggest:
- conditionals
- indefinite iteration, with a way to jump out of the loop when necessary
- variables (numeric and string)
- assignment
- mathematical operators
- basic string operators
- input
- output
Things that are very nice to have:
- functions
- recursion
- multiple iterators
- "else" on if-then
- switch statements
Of course, for a special-purpose language, you may not need some things --
e.g., some programs don't need strings.
--
|\ _,,,---,,_ Travis S. Casey <efindel@io.com>
ZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ No one agrees with me. Not even me.
|,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-'
'---''(_/--' `-'\_)
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