ZorkScript

An esoteric scripting language based on text-based game commands.

Notes

Some notes via the conversation topic in our Slack channel:

Commands

Some basic command aliases:

• print "string" -> say "string"
• new String() -> craft String named $var
• $var = "value" -> put "value" in $var

Arrays

If arrays are treated like all other standard object types (Int, String, etc.), then creating an array would look something like this:

craft Array named $array
craft String named $string

put "test" in $string
put $string in $array

With this structure, the same concept could be applied to create multidimentional arrays:

craft Array named $array1
craft Array named $array2

put $array1 in $array2

Functions

In ZorkScript, functions are structured like "spells." For example, the following pseudocode:

function echo($string) {
  print($string);
}

Would look like this in ZorkScript:

spell Echo
  component $string
  say "#{$string}"

Execution

Calling a function is accomplished using the cast command, like so:

cast Echo with "Hi!"

Classes

Classes follow a similar structure, but are structured like physical objects. For example:

class Point {
  private $x;
  private $y;
  
  public function Echo() {
    print("$x, $y");
  }
}

Would be structured like this:

blueprint Point
  component $x
  component $y
  
  casts Echo with "#{$x}, #{$y}"

Function definitions are generally global, however they can be localized within an object similarly to how the Go programming language handles object orientation.

Instantiation

Instantiating a class can be accomplished using the craft command, like so:

craft Point with 1 and 1 named $point

This would instantiate the Point class defined above, using 1 and 1 for $x and $y respectively, and assign it to the $point variable.

As a note, an interpreter might tokenize that command like this:

Token(Keyword) "craft"
Token(Identifier) "Point"
Token(ArgList) "with"
    Token(Number) 1
    Token(Seperator) "and"
    Token(Number) 1
Token(Keyword) "named"
Token(VarIdentifier) "$point"

Instance Methods

Instance methods are called similarly to how global methods are called:

cast Echo using $point

As you can see, the Echo method is called, but within the context of the $point class.

Dependencies

Dependencies can be imported using the summon command:

summon utilities