Re: Spatterlight 0.5.0
gairlochan
> Hello all,
>
> I've been out of touch with the IF world for a bit, but at long
> last I felt it was time to update Spatterlight. Here is the newest
> and greatest release, which includes several updated interpreters:
> Alan 3.0 alpha 5, Glulxe 0.4.3, Level9 4.1, Scare 1.3.9.
>
> http://ccxvii.net/spatterlight/
>
> If there are any bugs or features that you sorely miss
> this is the thread where you can tell me all about it. If this
> new release doesn't work on the latest and greatest interactive
> masterpieces (or even on the old classics) shout it out here.
>
> Tor
>
Heh, I don't believe this! Just when I had given the Alan 3 language up as a
bad job because it had no Mac interpreter that I could find. And I'd thought
it was meant to be the language for me to learn on, as my technophobic
husband's name is Alan and my son's name is ... yes ... Tor! So much for
synchronicity!
Erica MacKenzie
-- Posted on news://freenews.netfront.net - Complaints to ne...@netfront.net --
Greg Ewing
> Heh, I don't believe this! Just when I had given the Alan 3 language up as a
> bad job because it had no Mac interpreter that I could find.
If you'd like to give Alan another go, I'd be happy to
help you with whatever compilation problems you were
having before.
IMO, Alan is quite a nice language that deserves more
attention than it gets. It would be good to see it
discussed here more.
--
Greg
James Jolley
I'd like to know more about it in general. I've never even seen any
code or anything. Isn't it similar to I7 in that it attempts to make
language elements more englishlike?
--
Best
-James-
greg
> I'd like to know more about it in general. I've never even seen any code
> or anything.
I've appended a few snippets from the manual below to
give an idea of the flavour.
I'll see if I can dig out the Alan 2 game I wrote a while
back, which will provide a more substantial example.
> Isn't it similar to I7 in that it attempts to make language
> elements more englishlike?
In a way, but it doesn't go nearly as far in that direction.
It's English-like to about the same extent that COBOL was
English-like. The syntax has a clear structure to it, and
there is a BNF grammar for it published in the manual.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The kitchen Isa location
Exit east To hallway.
End The Kitchen.
The hallway Isa location
Description
"In front of you is a long hallway. In one end
is the front door, in the other a doorway. From
the smell Kitchen."
Exit west To kitchen
Check door Is open
Else "The door is closed."
Does
"As you enter the kitchen the smell of
something burning is getting stronger."
End Exit west.
End The hallway.
The door Isa object At hallway
Is closed.
Description
"The door to the kitchen is a sliding door."
If door Is closed Then
"It is closed."
Else
"It is open."
End If.
Verb open
Does
Make door Not closed.
End Verb open.
End The door.
Start At kitchen.
James Jolley
> James Jolley wrote:
>
>> I'd like to know more about it in general. I've never even seen any
>> code or anything.
>
> I've appended a few snippets from the manual below to
> give an idea of the flavour.
>
> I'll see if I can dig out the Alan 2 game I wrote a while
> back, which will provide a more substantial example.
>
> > Isn't it similar to I7 in that it attempts to make language
> > elements more englishlike?
>
> In a way, but it doesn't go nearly as far in that direction.
> It's English-like to about the same extent that COBOL was
> English-like. The syntax has a clear structure to it, and
> there is a BNF grammar for it published in the manual.
Code Snipped
Thanks a lot for all your help there. It's certainly an interesting
system, makes me think a little of AGT but not sure why.
Thanks and if you can dig up the code and feel like sending it, feel
free to email me.
--
Best
-James-
Blank
Yes, in a way it's a pity that the Alan mailing list is such a nice,
friendly place because it means that all the Alan chit-chat happens out
of sight of other raif readers.
--jz
greg
> Yes, in a way it's a pity that the Alan mailing list is such a nice,
> friendly place because it means that all the Alan chit-chat happens out
> of sight of other raif readers.
Not that there's been much chit-chat on the mailing list
either in recent times. Not sure if this means that
everything is crystal-clear to everyone, or that nobody
is doing anything with Alan. I rather fear the latter...
--
Greg
Blank
Yeah, for me I just got discouraged when I saw how much of the
documentation is yet to be written (especially all the stuff around
NPCs). Being a hobbyist programmer I have neither the experience nor the
time to play blind-man's-buff with the compiler to discover what works
and what doesn't.
--jz
greg
> Yeah, for me I just got discouraged when I saw how much of the
> documentation is yet to be written
You may find the Alan 2 manual helpful for filling
in the gaps. Most things are fairly similar between
the two.
--
Greg