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Chapter 2: The Structure of the Language

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Underlying Principles

The structure of the Commercial Translator language is very much like that of English. It has, first of all, a basic vocabulary, consisting of words and symbols. Next, it has a set of basic rules of "grammar" or "syntax" by which the words and symbols may be combined to express meanings. Finally, it has punctuation symbols to clarify the groupings of words and symbols so that their meanings will be unmistakably clear.

The Commercial Translator language is much simpler than English, for its requirements are more limited and more precise. Since it is a programming language, it must have the capacity to state facts and give instructions. It must be clear and specific; it does not require the ability to express delicate shades of meaning. The Commercial Translator is a language of action—a language for getting things done—and it therefore consists largely of verbs and nouns. The verbs direct the system to take action of various kinds; the nouns name the data and the procedures on which action is to be taken.

As in English, verbs and nouns may be combined into clauses and sentences so that meanings may be clearly defined. A number of typical Commercial Translator sentences have been examined in Chapter 1 of this manual. The reader will thus have discovered that he can usually tell what a Commercial Translator sentence means merely by reading it, although at this point he may not know the rules for writing such a sentence or the ways in which a sentence can be used in a program. It is the purpose of this chapter to describe the basic components of the language and to show the rules for combining them to express meanings.