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{{Update|inaccurate=yes|updated=September 2014|date=April 2021}}
'''Snowball''' is a small string processing [[programming language]] also Known as [[SNOBOL]] designed for creating [[stemming]] algorithms for use in [[information retrieval]].<ref name=Snowball-HomePage>[http://snowball.tartarus.org/ "Snowball"], Martin Porter, web page. Retrieved 2 September 2014.</ref>
The Snowball compiler translates a Snowball script (a .sbl file) into program in [[thread safety|thread-safe]] [[ANSI C]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], Ada, C#, Go, Javascript, Object Pascal, Python or Rust. For ANSI C, each Snowball script produces a program file and corresponding header file (with .c and .h extensions).<ref>[http://snowball.tartarus.org/texts/quickintro.html "Snowball: Quick introduction"], Martin Porter, web page. Retrieved 2 September 2014.</ref> The Snowball compiler checks the consistency of its script, and this check was used to discover a [[typo]] in a seminal academic paper by [[Julie Beth Lovins|Lovins]] which had remained undetected for 30 years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://snowball.tartarus.org/algorithms/lovins/festschrift.html|title=Lovins revisited}}</ref>
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The basic [[datatype]]s handled by Snowball are strings of characters, signed integers, and boolean [[truth value]]s, or more simply strings, integers and booleans. Snowball's characters are either 8-bit wide, or 16-bit, depending on the mode of use. In particular, both [[ASCII]] and [[UTF-16|16-bit Unicode]] are supported. Like the [[SNOBOL programming language]], the flow of control in Snowball is arranged by the implicit use of signals (each statement returns a true or false value), rather than the explicit use of constructs such as if, then, and break found in [[C (programming language)|C]] and many other programming languages.<ref>[http://snowball.tartarus.org/compiler/snowman.html "Snowball Manual"], Martin Porter, web page. Retrieved 2 September 2014.</ref>
[[SNOBOL]] was designed to utilize symbolic string data, as its name suggests its job. In only a few lines of code, programmers may quickly search, edit, and use string variables. Pattern-matching problems are well-suited to [[SNOBOL]] and [[derivative]] languages <ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=SNOBOL |url=https://unacademy.com/content/bank-exam/study-material/computer-knowledge/snobol/ |access-date=2023-11-14 |website=Unacademy |language=en-US}}</ref>
The name Snowball was chosen as a tribute to the [[SNOBOL]] programming language, with which it shares the concept of string patterns delivering signals that are used to control the flow of the program. The creator of Snowball, [[Martin Porter|Dr. Martin Porter]], "toyed with the idea of calling it 'strippergram' ", because it "effectively provides a 'suffix STRIPPER GRAMmar' ".<ref name=Snowball-HomePage/>▼
▲The name Snowball was chosen as a tribute to the [[SNOBOL]] programming language, with which it shares the concept of string patterns delivering signals that are used to control the flow of the program. The creator of Snowball, [[Martin Porter|Dr. Martin Porter]], "toyed with the idea of calling it 'strippergram' ", because it "effectively provides a '[[suffix]] STRIPPER GRAMmar' ".<ref name="Snowball-HomePage" />
= Modern use =
[[SNOBOL]] was designed to work with symbolic string data. Just in a few lines of code, programmers would instantly search, edit, and use string variables. [[Pattern-matching]] issues are well-suited to [[SNOBOL]] and derivative languages. Attempts to restore SNOBOL back to life have been made through out the years. In the post [[Cold War|Cold-War]] era, Ralph Griswold, the creator of [[SNOBOL]], produced Icon, a language that was comparable to SNOBOL. It was never as Famous just as SNOBOL was to being too much specialized.<ref name=":0" />
==References==
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