[comp.ai] Hypertalk

thom@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu (Thom Gillespie) (02/24/89)

Hi,

	I just subscribed and wondered if anyone is using pure hypertalk (sans xcmd
	& xfuns) for ai like applications or if anyone is using compiled lisp xcmds
	or xfuns. Thanks.

	Thom Gillespie

jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle) (02/25/89)

      Has anyone else noticed the similarity of Hypertalk to COBOL-60?

Hypertalk:

	ADD a TO b
	DIVIDE a BY b
	GO TO c
	CLOSE FILE f
	SET x TO 1

COBOL-60:

	ADD a TO b.
	DIVIDE a BY b.
	GO TO c.
	CLOSE FILE f.
	SET x TO 1.

     In its day, COBOL-60 was touted as "natural language programming" too.

					John Nagle

bwk@mbunix.mitre.org (Barry W. Kort) (02/26/89)

John Nagle points out an interesting parallel in the syntax and
grammar between Hypertalk and Cobol.

I think the significant contribution of Hypertalk is its object-
oriented semantics.  Hypercard is the first popularly available
system for object-oriented design in which one may easily construct
arbitrarily rich semantic networks of interlinked objects.

--Barry Kort