[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) Re: command parsers: a modest proposa

[Adam J. Thornton]

On Thu, Jul 09, 1998 at 12:18:21PM -0400, Richard Bartle wrote:
>  >>  >In "drop rock", it seems MUD2 would drop all rocks.
>  >>         That's right, it would.
>  >Egads!  How does one manipulate a single item?
>         DROP 1 ROCK or DROP A ROCK would do. If you wanted a particular
> rock, you'd either use some unique adjective combination (DROP LICHEN-COVERED
> ROCK) or superlative (DROP THE SMALLEST ROCK) or, if there was no way to
> discriminate by descriptions, you'd drop it by its individual name, DROP
> ROCK12.

Seriously, folks.  Take a look at how the Inform parser handles this, and
disambiguation so that only rarely does the parser have to say "Which rock
do you mean, the small moldy rcok or the large lichen-encrusted rock?"

ftp.gmd.de /if-archive/programming/inform6/library, especially parserm.h.

Adam
--
adam at princeton.edu 
"There's a border to somewhere waiting, and a tank full of time." - J. Steinman