[MUD-Dev] Re[2]: [MUD-Dev] Languages (slightly offtopic, was Text Parsing)

[Matthew Mihaly]

At 08:42 PM 6/2/99 -0400, Travis wrote:
>On Wednesday, June 02, 1999, Matthew Mihaly wrote:
>> On Wed, 2 Jun 1999, Travis S. Casey wrote:
>

>That is the difference between *prescriptive* and *descriptive*
>grammar.  A prescriptive grammar, which is the kind of grammar you're
>exposed to in grade school, is some group's idea of the way the
>language *should* be spoken.  A *descriptive* grammar, which is what
>linguists work with, is a description of the way the language *is*
>spoken.

Descriptive grammar seems, to my uneducated self, to be impossible to
define precisely and thus absolutely useless in terms of a mud parser. If
grammar is the way language is spoken, then any set of words that is meant
to express an idea can be considered English. If descriptive grammar is
what is spoken, then by speaking it, it becomes proper grammar. I realize
this is a bit silly, but how many people does it take to become correct
grammar?

I don't have a great understanding of programming, but it seems to me that
the only way to code a parser is to make it use an objectively defined set
of rules. Whether those rules come from Oxford or your imagination, you are
still defining your in-game grammar just as rigidly. I don't mean this in a
deragatory way. I just don't see any other way to do it.

It also occurs to me that the examples you provided were all
speech-oriented. Speech and text are two different things, and if I picked
up a history book that was written the way people speak, I'd throw it into
the garbage. I might not laugh at someone who said something to me like
"That dog ain't got no fleas", but I certainly wouldn't take that person
seriously. Likewise, I try to make the output in my game use proper grammar
(to me, that means Oxford grammar). As far as input goes, I'm happy forcing
them into a rigid structure. I guess while a parser that can accomodate
constantly changing dialects would be interesting, I don't see the point in
terms of MUD development. 

--matt







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