Re: [Rpg-maker-design] Language design

[Dan <di...@co...>]

Overall, I think it looks good.  But then, I'm a programmer, and it's a 
very easy language.
My biggest complaint is with creating new objects:

> Map Firstmap is in Game
<Type> <Name> is in <Object>

This can really be broken down into two parts:
"<Type> <Name>": Create a new <Type> called <Name>
"is in <Object>": This new <Type> is part of <Object>

The first part, to me, isn't all that clear.   Would a random non-coder 
looking at "Map Firstmap" realize that Firstmap is a Map?  Maybe, but 
maybe not.  I'm thinking something like
"new <Type> called <Name>" would be clearer:
"new Map called FirstMap".
On the other hand, that could be adding too much typing.  We could 
shorten it.
"new Map: FirstMap"
"Map called FirstMap"
"FirstMap is a Map"
"FirstMap is a new Map"

Which one do people like best?

As for the second part, I think the "in" could be confusing to those 
who are just being introduced to Object Oriented stuff.  "is part of" 
would probably make it much clearer, but that is, again, probably too 
much typing.


Related to both problems, we could make the scripting engine 
auto-expand certain phrases or symbols when it sees them.  The user 
could type 'ipo', and when it checks for syntax, it would replace that 
with "is part of".  Or they could just type "is part of".
Of course, if we end up with a GUI to create the script, it doesn't 
really matter.