Message-ID: <3c8af209_2@corp-news.newsgroups.com>
From: CardinalT <cardinalt@helpmejebus.com>
Subject: Re: Making a parser - what are the minimal requirements?
Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Date: Sat, 09 Mar 2002 21:40:00 -0800
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Kodrik wrote:

>> If so, I think I'm beginning to understand that your engine doesn't have
>> a default parsing behavior, but only follows whatever rules the designer
>> tells it to follow, and that moreover the designer must write these rules
>> in toto and anew for each and every referenceable object he creates. Is
>> that correct?
>
> Exactly, but it is not as hard as it sounds for the author to define them.

Ah, but it is if you want your parser to respond sensibly to a wide variety
of attempted, albeit failed, actions. Even though "throw me" is unlikely to
be successful in any game, it's just much more satisfying and "friendly"
for the player to receive a response like "You can't throw yourself!" than
"error 672: illegal input". But such context-sensitive error messages seem
impossible under your implementation. Are they? That is, are they without
having to code one for each and every object in the game?

--
--CardinalT
  Archbishop of Frith and Funeral Barker to the Stars
