Not-English

~English

~English ("NOT English") was an esoteric attempt at using a natural language as programming language. This repository hosts a second, revised version of the language. This updated version generalizes many language concepts and introduces a number of new features.

New language features (will) include: ([X] means implemented)

• New function call syntax [X]
• Generalization of "Display" (it is now a function) [X]
• Comments [X]
• Constants for often used values. [X]
• Introduce "it" (and possibly "its") as a reference to the last-used variable.
• User-defined functions/subroutines [X]
• User-defined functions take arguments by reference [X]
• Return statement
• Sentences can end in "!" or "?".
• Built-in objects and variable generalization
• User-created libraries (using C/C++)
• User-created libraries (using Python)
• Built-ins moved to "standard" library.
• Arrays and array library.
• String library.
• Socket library.

Practical information

• Compile with -std=c++11.
• boost::any, boost::variant and boost::lexical_cast are being used (these do not require linking though)

The source code is based upon the old source code, although it has been (somewhat) cleaned up.

Overview of new features

New function call syntax

The new syntax for calling functions is as following (example):

Display "First argument", a newline, "Second argument"
 and another newline.

(Where display is a function.) And in expressions:

Set the value of name to the result of getInput.

Comments

Anything starting with "Note:" or "Note" is considered a comment, eg.:

Create a variable called name. Note: name holds the username.
Set the value of name to "undefined". Note that "undefined" is only
 a placeholder.

Synonyms for "Note"/"Note:" include "Notice", "Notice:" and "Mind".

Constants for often used values

Example:

Set the value of i to one.
Dipslay i and a newline.

User-defined functions

To use a user-defined function, you must first declare it and then define it.

Example:

Note: the following line is the declaration. Mind the "with" construct.
Create a function called Greet with argument name.
Notice: the next line is the implementation.
Upon calling Greet do:
Display "Hello", the name and a newline.
That's all.
Note that the next line is not a part of the definition (it's a call).
Greet "world".

Synonyms for "When" include "Upon" and "Whenever". Synonyms for "calling" include "executing", "running" and "evaluating". Note also that arguments are by default passed by-reference in ~English. This means hat if you modify an argument, that modification is not bound to the scope of the function.