MeerCode

What is it?

This is a small quarter-year project created by a couple Meermans underlings.

Alright, but what exactly is it?

Using Java, we created a simple programming language that can manipulate characters, numbers, and arrays.

Purpose of MeerCode

• To make a scripting programming language to help beginner coders start basic high-level programming.

Structure MeerCode

• Interpreted
• Scripting
• No Primitives
• Static Variables (not inferred)

Datatypes

• Number (Integer/Double Hybrid)
• Letter ('a'; 128 ascii)
• String ("word")
• List (Number[1,2,3])
• Coin (Boolean)

Keywords

• import
• if/then/whatIf/otherwise
• repeatWhile
• break
• end
• none

Operators

• +,-, *, /, ^
• not, or, and
• is

Syntax

Basic Rules:

• Extra whitespace characters do not matter as fresh coders may accidentally hit an extra space or newline when int the process of learning
• Case sensitive
• Newline indicate a new 'function' (empty line does nothing) with exceptions (such as conditionals or loops)
• Functions and variables of other libraries use Java's syntax where parentheses are func() and variables are Library.variable
• If a conditional/loop uses more than 1 line, an end keyword is expected
• '' denotes a letter and "" denotes a string
• # used for commenting

Script Example:

numberVar is 1

stringVar is "abc"

trueCoinVar is true
falseCoinVar is ! true

nullVar is none

if (true) then say("true") whatif (! false) then say("false") otherwise say("error") end

if (! ! true) then
  say("true")
end

repeatwhile (true) then
  break
  say("this line wont print")
end

To programmers:

• Don't add/commit every single file please... This makes commit messages messy
• Make sure you have Gradle installed with an environmental variable set to its installation path
• Download GitKraken for easier git usage

Benefits of GitKraken

• Super easy to resolve merge conflicts
• Super easy to commit/push (and it only commits files you've changed)
• etcetera

Branches

• feature/branchName - adding new features; branch/merge -> dev
• dev/branchName - making base code; branch/merge -> master
• release/branchName - fixing bugs; branch -> dev; merge -> master/dev
• hotfix/branchName - urgent coding; branch -> master; merge -> master/dev

Basic Code Format

Variables

• kVarName - constant variables
• mVarName - field variables
• pVarName - parameter variables
• VAR_NAME - FINAL "variables"

Examples:

public class ExampleClass {
  //FINAL
  private FINAL Double ACCEL_GRAVITY = 9.80665;
  
  //Constant
  private ExampleClass kExampleClassFinal = this;
  
  //Field Variable
  private Number mExampleField;
  
  //Constructor
  public ExampleClass(Number pVarName) {
    mExampleField = pVarName;
  }
}

Collaborators

• Francis Adams
• Joseph Chang
• Kyle Robinson