NondeScript

Summary

non·de·script: adjective

1. lacking distinctive or interesting features or characteristics.

This language is intended to operate and appear in such a way that it blends into one's mind. Writing it should not feel like writing code, but rather like talking to the computer as you would a person, telling it what to do in a natural feeling way (for engish speakers at least!). It does come across as slightly more verbose and some choices for its syntax and grammar may seem strange, but too bad! If it feels nice to write, then mission accomplished.

All examples have NondeScript on the left and JavaScript on the right.

The Basics

When doing the basic "hello world" example, you want the computer to display those words, so simply type...

        display "Hello World";                                    console.log("Hello, World");

As you can see, semicolons are used at the end of statements. This is because it feels "safe" and very distincly shows where a statement ends. You wouldn't start leaving the periods off of sentences in a novel now would you?

Declaring and Assigning Variables

To declare a variable, you type 'declare'. To say a variable is something, you type 'is'. Pretty simple really...

        declare x;                                                var x;
        declare y is 5;                                           var y = 5;
        x is "cool";                                              x = "cool";

Variables can be declared without being initialized and types are not required, as NondeScript uses dynamic typing.

Loops, While and For

While loops rely on the 'until' keyword, and For loops use the same sort of set up as JavaScript. Note however that braces are not used, but rather the naked indents show where the loops block is located.

        declare i is 0;                                           var i = 0;
        loop until i is 10                                        while ( i != 10 ) {
            increment i by 2;                                         i += 2;
        end loop                                                  }
        
        
        loop declare i is 0, until i is > 5, increment i          for ( var i = 0; i <= 5; i++ ) {
            display i;                                                console.log( i );
        end loop                                                  }

Also seen here is incrementing number variables, which defaults to '1' when no amount to increment 'by' is given.

Functions

Functions 'take' something in and then 'return' something back. Again note no braces.

        function noArguments takes in nothing                     function noArguments () {
            declare x is "everything";                                var x = "everything";
            return x;                                                 return x;
        end function                                              }
        
        
        function withArguments takes in y                         function withArguments ( y ) {
            return y + 3;                                             return y + 3;
        end function;                                             }

When a function takes in no arguments, type 'takes in nothing'. Again, NondeScript should be typed and feel like the actual thing you are trying to make the program do.

Objects

TOO DOO

Syntax

      Script         ::= Stmt+
      
      Stmt           ::= Declaration
                      |  Increment ';'
                      |  'display'  Exp  ';'
                      |  Assignment ';'
                      |  While
                      |  Call ';'
                      |  ForLoop
                      |  Return ';'
      
      Declaration    ::= VarDec | FunDec
      
      VarDec         ::= 'declare' Id  ('is'  Exp)?  ';'
      
      FunDec         ::= 'function'  Id  Params  Block Return
      
      Increment      ::= ('increment' | 'decrement') Id ('by' Int)?
                
      Assignment     ::= Id  'is'  Exp
      
      While          ::= 'loop'  Exp  Block
      
      Call           ::= Id  Args
      
      ForLoop        ::= 'loop' (VarDec)? ',' Exp  ','  Increment  Block
      
      Return         ::= 'return' Exp
      
      Block          ::= '    '  Stmt*  'end' ('loop' | 'function')
      
      Args           ::= 'takes in'  ('nothing' | Exp)  (',' Exp)*
      
      Exp            ::= UnaryOp  Exp
                      |  Exp  BinaryOp  Exp
                      |  'until' Exp
                      |  IntLit | StringLit | true | false | Call
      
      UnaryOps       ::= '-' | 'not'
      
      BinaryOps      ::= 'AND' | 'OR' 
      
      ComparisonOps  ::= 'is ('>' | '<') | 'is = OR ('>' | '<') | 'is' | 'is not'
      
      AddOps         ::= '+' | '-'
      
      MultOps        ::= '*' | "/"
      
      Type           ::= Int
                      |  Boolean
                      |  String
                      |  Id