MDL (programming language): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:22, 13 January 2023

Revision as of 13:27, 13 January 2023

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{{cite web |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a197342.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503021117/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a197342.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=May 3, 2019 |title=Graphical Programming and Monitoring RADC-TR-88-7 |last=Licklider |first=J.C.R |date=January 1988 |publisher=Rome Air Development Center |access-date=2019-05-18}}</ref>{{rp|3}} or '''MIT Design Language'''{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}) is a [[programming language]], a descendant of the language [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]]. Its initial purpose was to provide high level language support for the Dynamic Modeling Group at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]'s (MIT) [[Project MAC]].<ref name="DornbrookBlank" >

{{cite web |url=http://publications.csail.mit.edu/lcs/pubs/pdf/MIT-LCS-TR-292.pdf |title=MDL Programming Primer MIT-LCS-TR-292 |last=Dornbrook |first=Michael | last2=Blank | first2=Marc |date=1980 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laboratory for Computer Science |access-date=2019-05-18}}</ref> It was developed in 1971 on a [[PDP-10]] running [[Incompatible Timesharing System|ITS]] and later ran on [[TENEX (operating system)|TENEX]], [[TOPS-20]],<ref name="GalleyPfister1979" >

{{cite web |url=http://ifarchive.org/if-archive/programming/mdl/manuals/MDL_Programming_Language.pdf |title=The MDL Programming Language |last=Galley |first=Stu W. |last2=Pfister |first2=Greg |date=1979 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laboratory for Computer Science |access-date=2018-12-18}} ([https://mdl-language.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ Markdown/HTML transcription])</ref><ref>

{{cite web |url=http://ifarchive.org/if-archive/programming/mdl/manuals/MDL_Programming_Environment.pdf |title=The MDL Programming Environment |last=Lebling |first=P. David |date=May 1980 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laboratory for Computer Science |access-date=2018-12-18}}</ref> [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]],<ref name="Licklider1988" />{{rp|6}} and [[Domain/OS#AEGIS|AEGIS]].<ref name="Lim1982">

{{cite web |url=https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/102210/10219781-MIT.pdf#page=69 | page=69 |title=A Device-Independent Graphics Manager for MDL |last=Lim |first=Poh Chuan |date=1982 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date=2019-05-18}}</ref>

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But the largest influence that MDL had was on the [[software]] genre of [[interactive fiction]] (IF). An IF game named [[Zork]], sometimes called Dungeon, was first written in MDL.<ref name="dyer19840506">{{Cite news |url=http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Articles/globe84.html |title=Masters of the Game |last=Dyer |first=Richard |date=1984-05-06 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970607204921/http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/Articles/globe84.html |archive-date=1997-06-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Later, Reeve, Daniels, Galley and other members of Dynamic Modeling went on to start [[Infocom]], a company that produced many early [[Commercial software|commercial]] works of interactive fiction.

In 1980 [[Marc Blank]] and Joel Berez adapted the MDL language to create a subset called [[ZIL ([[Zork Implementation Language)]]) which was used extensively by [[Infocom]] to create their award winning games.

==Code sample==

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==See also==

* [[ZIL (Zork Implementation Language)]]

* [[Zork]]

* [[Scheme (programming language)]]