A friend just asked me if there are any computer languages that are
not in English and I didn't know the answer. I assume there are at
least some toy languages out there, but have never heard of them.
There is that perl module Lingua::Romana::Perligata that lets you
write perl in Latin, does that counts?
Just for fun, here's the perldoc
NOMEN
Lingua::Romana::Perligata -- Perl in Latin
EDITIO
This document describes version 0.50 of Lingua::Romana::Perligata,
released May 3, 2001.
SUMMARIUM
#! /usr/local/bin/perl -w
use Lingua::Romana::Perligata;
adnota Illud Cribrum Eratothenis
maximum tum val inquementum tum biguttam tum stadium egresso scribe.
vestibulo perlegementum da meo maximo .
maximum tum novumversum egresso scribe.
da II tum maximum conscribementa meis listis.
dum damentum nexto listis decapitamentum fac sic
lista sic hoc tum nextum recidementum cis vannementa da listis.
next tum biguttam tum stadium tum nextum tum novumversum
scribe egresso.
cis
DESCRIPTIO
The Lingua::Romana::Perligata makes it makes it possible to write Perl
programs in Latin. (If you have to ask "Why?", then the answer probably
won't make any sense to you either.)
The linguistic principles behind Perligata are described in:
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~damian/papers/HTML/Perligata.html
The module is "use"d at the start of the program, and installs a filter
which allows the rest of the program to be written in (modified) Latin,
as described in the following sections.
GRAMMATICA PERLIGATA
Variables
To simplify the mind-numbingly complex rules of declension and
conjugation that govern inflexions in Latin, Perligata treats all
user-defined scalar and array variables as neuter nouns of the second
declension -- singular for scalars, plural for arrays.
Hashes represent something of a difficulty in Perligata, as Latin lacks
an obvious way of distinguishing these "plural" variables from arrays.
The solution that has been adopted is to depart from the second
declension and represent hashes as masculine plural nouns of the fourth
declension.
Hence, the type and role of all types variables are specified by their
number and case.
When elements of arrays and hashes are referred to directly in Perl, the
prefix of the container changes from "@" or "%" to "$". So it should not
be surprising that Perligata also makes use of a different inflexion to
distinguish these cases.
Indexing operations such as "$array[$elem]" or "$hash{$key}" might be
translated as "elem of array" or "key of hash". This suggests that when
arrays or hashes are indexed, their names should be rendered in the
genitive (or possessive) case. Multi-level indexing operations
("$array[$row][$column]") mean "column of row of array", and hence the
first indexing variable must also be rendered in the genitive.
Note that the current release of Perligata only supports homogeneous
multi-level indexing. That is: "$lol[$row][$column]" or
"$hoh{key}{subkey}{subsubkey}", but not $lohol[$index1]{key}[$index2]>.
The rules for specifying variables may be summarized as follows:
Perligata Number, Case, and Declension Perl Role
========= ============================ ==== ====
nextum accusative singular 2nd $next scalar rvalue
nexta accusative plural 2nd @next array rvalue
nextus accusative plural 4th %next hash rvalue
nexto dative singular 2nd $next scalar lvalue
nextis dative plural 2nd @next array lvalue
nextibus dative plural 4th %next hash lvalue
nexti genitive singular 2nd [$next]... scalar index
nextorum genitive plural 2nd $next[...] array element
nextuum genitive plural 4th $next{...} hash entry
In other words, scalars are always singular nouns, arrays and hashes are
always plural (but of different declensions), and the case of the noun
specifies its syntactic role in a statement : accusative for an rvalue,
dative for an lvalue, genitive when being index. Of course, because the
inflection determines the syntactic role, the various components of a
statement can be given in any order. For example, the Perl statement:
$last = $next;
could be expressed in Perligata as any of the following ("da" is the
Perligata assignment operator -- see the section on "Built-in functions
and operators"):
lasto da nextum.
lasto nextum da.
nextum da lasto.
nextum lasto da.
da lasto nextum.
da nextum lasto.
The special form "$#array" is rendered via the Perligata verb *admeta*
("measure out"). See the section on "Subroutines, operators, and
functions".
The common punctuation variables "$_" and "@_" are special cases. "$_"
is often the value under implicit consideration (e.g. in pattern
matches, or "for" loops) and so it is rendered as "this thing": *hoc* as
an rvalue, *huic* as an lvalue, *huius* used as an intermediate index.
Similarly, "@_" is implicitly the list of things passed into a
subroutine, and so is rendered as "these things": *haec* as an rvalue,
*his* as an lvalue, *horum* when indexed.
Other punctuation variables take the Latin forms of their English.pm
equivalents (see the section on "THESAURUS PERLIGATUS"), often with a
large measure of poetic licence. For example, in Perligata, "$/" is
rendered as *ianitorem* or "gatekeeper".
The "numeral" variables -- "$1", "$2", etc. -- are rendered as synthetic
compounds: *parprimum* ("the equal of the first"), *parsecundum* ("the
equal of the second"), etc. When used as interim indices, they take
their genitive forms: *parprimi*, *parsecundi*, etc. Since they cannot
be used as an lvalue, they have no dative forms.
"my", "our", and "local"
In Perligata, the "my" modifier is rendered -- not surprisingly -- by
the first person possessive pronouns: *meo* (conferring a scalar
context) and *meis* (for a list context). Note that the modifier is
always applied to a dative (lvalue), and hence is itself declined in
that case. Thus:
meo varo haec da. # my $var = @_;
meis varo haec da. # my ($var) = @_
meis varis haec da. # my @var = @_;
Similarly the "our" modifier is rendered as *nostro* or *nostris*,
depending on the desired context.
The Perl "local" modifier is *loco* or *locis* in Perligata:
loco varo haec da. # local $var = @_;
locis varo haec da. # local ($var) = @_
locis varis haec da. # local @var = @_;
This is particularly felicitous: not only is *loco* the Latin term from
which the word "local" derives, it also means "in place of" (as in: *in
loco parentis*). This meaning is much closer to the actual behaviour of
the "local" modifier, namely to temporarily install a new symbol table
entry in place of the current one.
Subroutines, operators, and functions
Functions, operators, and user-defined subroutines are represented as
verbs or, in some situations, verbal nouns. The inflexion of the verb
determines not only its syntactic role, but also its call context.
User-defined subroutines are the simplest group. To avoid ambiguities,
they are all treated as verbs of the third conjugation. For example,
here are the various conjugations for different usages for a
user-defined subroutine "count()":
Perligata Number, Mood, etc Perl Role Context
========= ================= ==== ==== =======
countere infinitive sub count defn -
counte imperative sing. count() call void
countementum acc. sing. resultant count() call scalar
countementa acc. plur. resultant count() call list
countemento dat. sing. resultant count() call scalar lvalue
countementis dat. plur. resultant count() call list lvalue
The use of the infinitive as a subroutine definition is obvious:
*accipere* would tell Perligata how "to accept"; *spernere*, how "to
reject". So *countere* specifies how "to count".
The use of the imperative for void context is also straightforward:
*accipe* commands Perligata to "accept!", *sperne* tells it to
"reject!", and *counte* bids it "count!". In each case, an instruction
is being given (and in a void context too, so no backchat is expected).
Handling scalar and list contexts is a little more challenging. The
corresponding Latin must still have verbal properties, since an action
is being performed upon objects. But it must also have the
characteristics of a noun, since the result of the call will itself be
used as the object (i.e. target or data) of some other verb.
Fortunately, Latin has a rich assortment of verbal nouns -- far more
than English -- that could fill this role.
Since it is the result of the subroutine call that is of interest here,
the chosen solution was to use the *-ementum* suffix, which specifies
the (singular, accusative) outcome of an action. This corresponds to the
result of a subroutine called in a scalar context and used as data. For
a list data context, the plural suffix *-ementa* is used, and for
targets, the dative forms are used: *-emento* and *-ementis*. Of course,
Perl does not (yet) support lvalue subroutines that return a list/array,
so the *-mentis* suffix currently triggers an error.
Note that these resultative endings are completely consistent with those
for variables.
Built-in functions and operators
Built-in operators and functions could have followed the same
"dog-latin" pattern as subroutines. For example "shift" might have been
*shifte* in a void context, *shiftementa* when used as data in an array
context, *shiftemento* when used as a target in a scalar context, etc.
However, Latin already has a perfectly good verb with the same meaning
as "shift": *decapitare* ("to behead"). Unfortunately, this verb is of
the first conjugation, not the second, and hence has the imperative form
*decapita*, which makes it look like a Perligata array in a data role.
Orthogonality has never been Perl's highest design criterion, so
Perligata follows suit by eschewing bland consistency in favour of
aesthetics. All Perligata keywords -- including function and operator
names -- are therefore specified as correct Latin verbs, of whatever
conjugation is required. For example:
Operator/ Literal In void When used as When used as
function meaning context scalar rvalue list rvalue
======== ======= ======= ============= ============
+ "add" adde addementum addementa
= "give" da damentum damenta
. "conjoin" sere serementum serementa
.. "enlist" conscribe conscribementum conscribementa
shift "behead" decapita decapitamentum decapitamenta
push "stack" cumula cumulamentum cumulamenta
pop "unstack" decumula decumulamentum decumulamenta
grep "winnow" vanne vannementum vannementa
print "write" scribe scribementum scribementa
write "write below" subscribe subscribementum subscribementa
die "die" mori morimentum morimenta
The full list of Perligata keywords is provided in the THESAURUS
PERLIGATUS entry elsewhere in this document.
Note, however, that consistency has not been entirely forsaken. The
back-formations of inflexions for scalar and list context are entirely
regular, and consistent with those for user-defined subroutines
(described above).
A few Perl built-in functions -- "pos", "substr", "keys" -- can be used
as lvalues. That is, they can be the target of some other action
(typically of an assignment). In Perligata such cases are written in the
dative singular (since the lvalues are always scalar). Note too that,
because an assignment to an lvalue function modifies its first argument,
that argument must be a target too, and hence must be written in the
dative as well.
Thus:
nexto stringum reperimentum da. # $next = pos $string;
nextum stringo reperimento da. # pos $string = $next;
inserto stringum tum unum tum duo excerpementum da.
# $insert = substr($string,1,2);
insertum stringo unum tum duo excerpemento da.
# substr($string,1,2) = $insert;
clavis hashus nominamentum da. # @keys = keys %hash;
clava hashibus nominamento da. # keys %hash = @keys;
An interesting special case is the "$#array" construction, which in
Perligata is rendered via the verb *admeta*:
counto da arraya admetamentum. # $count = $#array;
Comments
In Perligata, comments are rendered by the verb *adnota* ("annotate")
and extend until the end of the line. For example:
nexto da prevum. adnota mensuram antiquam reserva
means:
$next = $prev; # remember old amount
Imposing precedence on argument lists
The order-independence of argument lists and subroutine calls largely
makes up for the lack of bracketing in Perligata. For example, the Perl
statement:
$res = foo(bar($xray,$yell),$zip);
can be written:
reso da xrayum tum yellum barmentum tum zipum foomentum.
Note that the lack of argument list brackets in Perligata means that if
it were written:
reso da foomentum barmentum xrayum tum yellum tum zipum.
it would be equivalent to:
$res = foo(bar($xray,$yell,$zip));
instead.
Likewise, it is possible to translate:
$res = foo($xray,bar($yell,$zip));
like so:
reso da xrayum tum barmentum yellum tum zipum foomentum.
But translating:
$res = foo($weld,bar($xray,$yell),$zip);
presents a difficulty.
In the first example above (*xrayum tum yellum barmentum tum zipum
foomentum*), the verb *barmentum* was used as a suffix on *xrayum tum
yellum* -- to keep the variable *zipum* out of the argument list of the
call to "bar". In the second example (*xrayum tum barmentum yellum tum
zipum foomentum*), the verb *barmentum* was used as a prefix on *yellum
tum zipum* -- to keep the variable *xrayum* out of the argument list.
But in this third example, it's necessary to keep both *weldum* and
*zipum* out of "bar"'s argument list. Unfortunately, *barmentum* can't
be both a prefix (to isolate *weldum*) and a suffix (to isolate *zipum*)
simulataneous.
The solution is to use the preposition *cum* (meaning "with...") at the
start of "bar"'s argument list, with *barmentum* as a suffix at the end
of the list:
reso da foomentum weldum tum cum xrayum tum yellum barmentum tum zipum.
It is always permissible to specify the start of a nested argument list
with a *cum*, so long as the governing verb is used as a suffix.
Blocks and control structures
Natural languages generally use some parenthetical device -- such as
parentheses, commas, or (as here) dashes -- to group and separate
collections of phrases or statements.
Some such mechanism would be an obvious choice for denoting Perligata
code blocks, but there is a more aesthetically pleasing solution. Perl's
block delimiters ("{".."}") have two particularly desirable properties:
they are individually short, and collectively symmetrical. It was
considered important to retain those characteristics in Perligata.
In Latin, the word *sic* has a sense that means "as follows". Happily,
its contranym, *cis*, has the meaning (among others) "to here". The
allure of this kind of wordplay being impossible to resist, Perligata
delimits blocks of statements with these two words. For example:
sic # {
loco ianitori. # local $/;
dato nuntio perlegementum da. # $data = <DATA>;
cis # }
Control structures in Perligata are rendered as conditional clauses, as
they are in Latin, English, and Perl. And as in those other languages,
they may precede or follow the code blocks they control.
Perligata provides the following control structures:
Perligata Perl
========= ====
si ... fac if ...
nisi ... fac unless ...
dum ... fac while ...
donec ... fac until ...
per (quisque) ... in ... fac for(each) ...
posterus next
ultimus last
reconatus redo
confectus continue
The trailing *fac* is the imperative form of *facere* ("to do") and is
used as a delimiter on the control statement's condition. It is
required, regardless of whether the control statement precedes or
follows its block.
The choice of *dum* and *donec* is completely arbitrary, since Latin
does not distinguish "while" and "until" as abstractions in the way
English does. *Dum* and *donec* each mean both "while" and "until", and
Latin relies on context (i.e. semantics) to distinguish them. This is
impractical for Perligata, so it always treats *dum* as "while" and
*donec* as "until". This choice was made in order to favour the shorter
term for the more common type of loop.
The choice of *confectus* for "continue" seeks to convey the function of
the control structure, not the literal meaning of the English word. That
is, a "continue" block specifies how to complete (*conficere*) an
iteration.
Perligata only supports the pure iterative form of "for(each)", not the
C-like three-part syntax.
Because:
foreach $var (@list) {...}
means "for each variable in the list...", the scalar variable must be in
the accusative (as it is governed by the preposition "for"), and the
list must be in the ablative (denoting inclusion). Fortunately, in the
second declension, the inflexion for ablatives is exactly the same as
for datives, giving:
per quisque varum in listis sic ... cis
This means that no extra inflexions have to be learned just to use the
*per* loop. Better still, the list (*listis*) looks like a Perligata
array variable in a target role, which it clearly is, since its contents
may be modified within the loop.
Note that you can also omit the accusative variable completely:
per quisque in listis sic ... cis
and leave *hoc* ("$_") implied, as in regular Perl.
Data
The "__END__" and "__DATA__" markers in Perligata are *finis*
("boundary") and *nuntius* ("information") respectively. Data specified
after either of these markers is available via the input stream
*nuntio*. For example:
dum perlege nuntio fac sic # while (<DATA>) {
scribe egresso hoc. # print $_;
cis # }
#
finis # __END__
post # post
hoc # hoc
ergo # ergo
propter # propter
hoc # hoc
Numbers
Numeric literals in Perligata are rendered by Roman numerals -- *I*,
*II*, *III*, *IV*...*XV*...*XLII*, etc, up to
*(((((((I)))))))((((((((I))))))))((((((I))))))(((((((I)))))))(((((I)))))
((((((I))))))((((I))))(((((I)))))(((I)))((((I))))((I))(((I)))M((I))CMXCI
X* (that is: 9,999,999,999)
The digits are:
Roman Arabic
===== ======
I 1
V 5
X 10
L 50
C 100
D 500
M 1,000
I)) 5,000
((I)) 10,000
I))) 50,000
(((I))) 100,000
I)))) 500,000
((((I)))) 1,000,000
I))))) 5,000,000
(((((I))))) 10,000,000
I)))))) 500,000,000
((((((I)))))) 1,000,000,000
I))))))) 5,000,000,000
(((((((I))))))) 10,000,000,000
The value *((I))* is 10,000 and every additional pair of *apostrophi*
(rendered as parentheses in ASCII) multiply that value by 10.
Notice that those wacky Romans literally used "half" of each big number
(e.g. *I))*, *I)))*, etc.) to represent half of each big numbers (i.e.
5000, 50000, etc.)
The first 10 numbers may also be referred to by name: *unum*/*unam*,
*duo*/*duas*, *tres*, *quattuor*, *quinque*, *sex*, *septem*, *octo*,
*novem*, *decem*. Zero, for which there is no Latin numeral, is rendered
by *nullum* ("no-one"). *Nihil* ("nothing") might have been a closer
rendering, but it is indeclinable and hence indistinguishable in the
accusative and genitive.
When a numeric literal is used in an indexing operation, it must be an
ordinal: "zeroth (element)", "first (element)", "second (element)", etc.
The first ten ordinals are named (in the accustive): *primum*/*primam*,
*secundum*/*secundam*, *tertium*/*tertiam*, *quartum*/*quartam*,
*quintum*/*quintam*, *sextum*/*sextam*, *septimum*/*septimam*,
*octavum*/*octavam*, *nonum*/*nonam*, *decimum*/*decimam*. Ordinals
greater than ten are represented by their corresponding numeral with the
suffix *-imum*: *XVimum* ("15th"), *XLIIimum* ("42nd"), etc. By analogy,
ordinal zero is rendered by the invented form *nullimum*.
If the element being indexed is used as an lvalue, then the ordinal must
of course be in the dative instead: *nullimo*, *primo*, *secundo*,
*tertio*, *quarto*, *quinto*, *sexto*, *septimo*, *octavo*, *nono*,
*decimo*, *XIimo*, etc. Note that the feminine dative forms are *not*
available in Perligata, as they are ambiguous with the feminine genitive
singular forms.
In a multi-level indexing operation, ordinals may need to be specified
in the genitive: *nulli*/*nullae*, *primi*/*primae*,
*secundi*/*secundae*, *tertii*/*tertiae*...*XVimi*/*XVimae*, etc.
For example:
$unimatrix[1][3][9][7];
would be:
septimum noni tertii primi unimatrixorum
which is literally:
seventh of ninth of third of first of unimatrix
Note that the order of the genitives is significant here, and is the
reverse of that required in Perl.
As mentioned in the section on "Variables", Perligata currently only
supports homogeneous multi-level indexing. If the final genitive
indicates an array (e.g. *unimatrixorum* in the previous example), then
preceding index is assumed to be an array index. If the final genitive
indicates a hash, every preceding genitive, and the original ordinal are
presumed to be keys. For example:
septimum noni tertii primi unimatrixorum # $unimatrix[1][3][9][7];
septimum noni tertii primi unimatrixuum # $unimatrix{1}{3}{9}{7};
Floating point numbers are expressed in Perligata as Latin fractions:
unum quartum # 0.25
MMMCXLI Mimos # 3.141
Note that the numerator is always a cardinal and the denominator a
(singular or plural) ordinal ("one fourth", "3141 1000ths"). The plural
of a Latin accusative ordinal is formed by replacing the *-um* suffix by
*-os*. This nicety can be ignored, as Perligata will accept fractions in
the form *MMMCXLI Mimum* ("3141 1000th")
Technically, both numerator and denominator should also be in the
feminine gender -- *una quartam*, *MMMCXLI Mimas*. This Latin rule is
not enforced in Perligata (to help minimize the number of suffixes that
must be remembered), but Perligata *does* accept the feminine forms.
Perligata outputs numbers in Arabic, but the verb *come* ("beautify")
may be used to convert numbers to proper Roman numerals:
per quisque in I tum C conscribementum sic
hoc tum duos multiplicamentum comementum egresso scribe.
cis
Strings
Classical Latin does not use punctuation to denote direct quotation.
Instead the verb *inquit* ("said") is used to report a direct utterance.
Hence in Perligata, a literal character string is constructed, not with
quotation marks, but by invoking the verbal noun *inquementum* ("the
result of saying"), with a data list of literals to be interpolated. For
example:
print STDOUT 'Enter next word:';
becomes:
Enter tum next tum word inquementum tum biguttam egresso scribe.
Note that the arguments to *inquementum* are special, in that they are
treated as literals. Punctuation strings have special names, such as
*lacunam* ("a hole") for space, *stadium* ("a stride") for tabspace,
*novumversum* ("new verse") for newline, or *biguttam* ("two spots") for
colon.
It is also possible to directly quote a series of characters (as if they
were inside a "q{...}". The Perligata equivalent is a *dictum
sic...cis*:
sic Enter next word : cis dictum egresso scribe.
or:
dictum sic Enter next word : cis egresso scribe.
"dictum" is, of course, a contraction of "dicementum" ("the result of
saying"), and Perligata allows this older form as well.
Perligata does not provide an interpolated quotation mechanism. Instead,
variables must be concatenated into a string. So:
print STDERR "You entered $word\n";
$mesg = "You entered $word";
becomes:
You tum entered inquementum tum wordum tum novumversum oraculo scribe.
mesgo da You tum entered inquementum tum wordum serementum.
Regular expressions
*[Perligata's regular expression mechanism is not yet implemented. This
section outlines how it will work in a future release.]*
In Perligata, patterns will be specified in a constructive syntax (as
opposed to Perl's declarative approach). Literals will regular strings
and other components of a pattern will be adjectives, verbs, nouns, or a
connective:
Perl Perligata Meaning
==== ========= =======
...+? multum "many"
...+ plurissimum "most"
...?? potis "possible"
...? potissimum "most possible"
(...) captivum "captured"
(?=...) excuba "keep watch"
[...] opta "choose between"
. quidlibet "anything"
\d digitum "a finger"
\s lacunam albam "a white space"
\w litteram "a character"
| an interrogative "or"
The final pattern will be produced using the supine *desideratum*. For
example:
pato da desideratum # $pat = qr/(?x)
C tum plurissimum A tum O opta tum T # C[AO]+T
an DOG tum potissimum GY. # |DOG(?:GY)?/;
Actual matching against a pattern will be done via the *compara*
("match") and *substitue* ("substitute") verbs:
si stringum patum comparamentum fac sic # if ($string =~ /$pat/) {
scribe egresso par inquementum # print "match"
cis #
huic substitue patum tum valum # s/$pat/$val/
per quisque in listis. # foreach @list;
Note that the string being modified by *substitue* will have to be
dative.
References
To create a reference to a variable, the variable is written in the
ablative (which looks exactly like the dative in Perligata's restricted
Latin syntax) and prefaced with the preposition *ad* ("to"). To create a
reference to a subroutine, the associated verb is inflected with the
accusative suffix *-torem* ("one who...") to produce the corresponding
noun-of-agency.
For example:
val inquemento hashuum ad dato da. # $hash{'val'} = \$dat;
arg inquemento hashuum ad argis da. # $hash{'arg'} = \@arg;
act inquemento hashuum functorem da. # $hash{'act'} = \&func;
ad val inquemento hashuum dato da. # $dat = \$hash{'val'};
ad inquemento arg hashuum argis da. # @arg = \$hash{'arg'};
funcemento da ad inquemento act hashuum. # func() = \$hash{'act'};
A special case of this construction is the anonymous subroutine
constructor *factorem* ("one who does..."), which is the equivalent of
"sub {...}" in Perl:
anonymo da factorem sic haec mori cis. # $anon = sub { die @_ };
As in Perl, such subroutines may be invoked by concatenating a call
specifier to the name of the variable holding the reference:
anonymume nos tum morituri inquementum. # &$anon('Nos morituri');
Note that the variable holding the reference (*anonymum*) is being used
as data, so it is named in the accusative.
In the few cases where a subroutine reference can be the target of an
action, the dative suffix (*-tori*) is used instead:
benedictum functori classum. # bless \&func, $class;
benedictum factori sic mori cis classum. # bless sub{die}, $class;
To dereference other types of references, a resultative of the verb
*arcesse* ("fetch") is used:
Ref type Perligata Perl Context
======== ========= ==== =======
scalar arcessementum varum $$var rvalue
scalar arcessemento varum $$var lvalue
array arcessementi varum ...[$$var] rvalue
array arcessementa varum @$var rvalue
array arcessementis varum @$var lvalue
array arcessementorum varum $var->[...] either
hash arcessementus varum %$var rvalue
hash arcessementibus varum %$var lvalue
array arcessementuum varum $var->{...} either
Note that the first six forms are just the standard resultatives (in
accusative, dative, and genitive) for the regular Perligata verb
*arcesse*. The last three forms are ungrammatical inflections (*-mentum*
is 2nd declension, not 4th), but are plausible extensions of the
resultative to denote a hash return value.
Multiple levels of dereferencing are also possible:
valo da arcessementa arcessementum varum # $val = @$$var;
as is appropriate indexing (using the genitive forms):
valo da primum varum arcessementorum # $val = $var->[1];
valo da primum varum arcessementuum # $val = $var->{1};
valo da primum varum arcessementi arrorum # $val = $arr[$$var][1];
Boolean logic
Perl's logical conjunctive and disjunctive operators come in two
precedences, and curiously, so do those of Latin. The higher precedence
Perl operators -- "&&" and "||" -- are represented in Perligata by the
emphatic Latin conjunctions *atque* and *vel* respectively. The lower
precedence operators -- "and" and "or" -- are represented by the
unemphatic conjunctive suffixes *-que* and *-ve*. Hence:
reso damentum foundum atque runementum. # $res = $found && run();
reso damentum foundum runementumque. # $res = $found and run();
reso damentum foundum vel runementum. # $res = $found || run();
reso damentum foundum runementumve. # $res = $found or run();
Note that, as in Latin, the suffix of the unemphatic conjunction is
always appended to the first word after the point at which the
conjunction would appear in English. Thus:
$result = $val or max($1,$2);
is rendered as:
resulto damentum valum parprimumve tum parsecundum maxementum.
or:
resulto damentum valum maxementumve parprimum tum parsecundum.
Proper Latinate comparisons would be odious in Perligata, because they
require their first argument to be expressed in the nominative and would
themselves have to be indicative. This would, of course, improve the
positional independence of the language even further, allowing:
si valus praecedit datum... # if $val < $dat...
si praecedit datum valus... # if $val < $dat...
si datum valus praecedit... # if $val < $dat...
Unfortunately, it also introduces another set of case inflexions and
another verbal suffix. Worse, it would mean that noun suffixes are no
longer unambiguous. In the 2nd declension, the nominative plural ends in
the same *-i* as the genitive singular, and the nominative singular
ending (*-us*) is the same as the accusative plural suffix for the
fourth declension. So if nominatives were used, scalars could no longer
always be distinguished from arrays or from hashes, except by context.
To avoid these problems, Perligata represents the equality and simple
inequality operators by three pairs of verbal nouns:
Perligata Meaning Perl
========= ======= ====
aequalitam "equality (of...)" ==
aequalitas "equalities (of...)" eq
praestantiam "precedence (of...)" <
praestantias "precedences (of...)" lt
comparitiam "comparison (of...)" <=>
comparitias "comparisons (of...)" cmp
Each operator takes two data arguments, which it compares:
si valum tum datum aequalitam # si $val == $dat
si valum tum datum praestantias # si $val lt $dat
si aum tum bum comparitiam # si $a <=> $b
The effects of the other comparison operators -- ">", "<=", "!=", "ne",
"ge", etc. -- are all achieved by appropriate ordering of the two
arguments and combination with the the logical negation operator *non*:
si valum tum datum non aequalitam # if $val != $dat
si datum tum valum praestantiam # if $val > $dat
si valum non praestantias datum # if $val ge $dat
Packages and classes
The Perligata keyword to declare a package is *domus*, literally "the
house of". In this context, the name of the class follows the keyword
and is treated as a literal; as if it were the data argument of an
*inquementum*.
To explicitly specify a variable or subroutine as belonging to a
package, the preposition *intra* ("within") is used. To call a
subroutine as a method of a particular package (or of an object), the
preposition *apud* ("of the house of") is used. Thus *intra* is
Perligata's "::" and *apud* is it's "->".
The Perl "bless" function is *benedice* in Perligata, but almost
invariably used in the scalar accusative form *benedicementum*.
Perligata also understands the correct (contracted) Latin form of this
verb: *benedictum*.
Thus:
domus Specimen. # package Specimen;
newere # sub new
sic # {
meis datibus. # my %data;
counto intra Specimen
postincresce. # $Specimen::count++;
datibus primum horum benedictum. # bless \%data, $_[0];
cis # }
printere # sub print
sic # {
modus tum indefinitus inquementum mori. # die 'method undefined';
cis # }
domus princeps. # package main;
meo objecto da # my $object =
newementum apud Specimen. # Specimen->new;
printe apud objectum; # $object->print;
THESAURUS PERLIGATUS
This section lists the complete Perligata vocabulary, except for Roman
numerals (*I*, *II*, *III*, etc.)
In each of the following tables, the three columns are always the same:
"Perl construct", "Perligata equivalent", "Literal meaning of Perligata
equivalent".
Generally, only the accusative form is shown for nouns and adjectives,
and only the imperative for verbs.
Values and variables
0 nullum "no-one"
1 unum "one"
2 duo "two"
3 tres "three"
4 quattuor "four"
5 quinque "five"
6 sex "six"
7 septem "seven"
8 octo "eight"
9 novem "nine"
10 decem "ten"
[0] nullimum "zeroth"
[1] primum "first"
[2] secundum "second"
[3] tertium "third"
[4] quartum "fourth"
[5] quintum "fifth"
[6] sextum "sixth"
[7] septimum "seventh"
[8] octavum "eighth"
[9] nonum "ninth"
[10] decimum "tenth"
$1 parprimum "equal of the first"
$2 parsecundum "equal of the first"
$3 partertium "equal of the third"
$4 parquartum "equal of the fourth"
$5 parquintum "equal of the fifth"
$6 parsextum "equal of the sixth"
$7 parseptimum "equal of the seventh"
$8 paroctavum "equal of the eighth"
$9 parnonum "equal of the ninth"
$10 pardecimum "equal of the tenth"
$/ ianitorem "gatekeeper"
$#var admeta varum "measure out"
$_ hoc/huic "this thing"
@_ his/horum "these things"
":" biguttam "two spots"
" " lacunam "a gap"
"\t" stadium "a stride"
"\n" novumversum "new line"
local loco "in place of"
my meo "my"
our nostro "our"
main princeps "principal"
Quotelike operators
'...' inque "say"
q// inque "say"
m// compara "match"
s/// substitue "substitute"
tr/// converte "translate"
Mathematical operators and functions
+ adde "add"
- deme "subtract"
- nega "negate"
* multiplica "multiply"
/ divide "divide"
% recide "lop off"
** eleva "raise"
& consocia "unite"
| interseca "intersect"
^ discerne "differentiate (between)"
++ preincresce "increase beforehand"
++ postincresce "increase afterwards"
-- predecresce "decrease beforehand"
-- postdecresce "decrease afterwards"
abs priva "strip from"
atan2 angula "create an angle"
sin oppone "oppose"
cos accuba "lie beside"
int decolla "behead"
log succide "log a tree"
sqrt fode "root into"
rand conice "guess, cast lots"
srand prosemina "to scatter seed"
Logical and comparison operators
! non "general negation"
&& atque "empathic and"
|| vel "emphatic or"
and -que "and"
or -ve "or"
< praestantiam "precedence of"
lt praestantias "precedences of"
<=> comparitiam "comparison of"
cmp comparitias "comparisons of"
== aequalitam "equality of"
eq aequalitas "equalities of"
Strings
chomp morde "bite"
chop praecide "cut short"
chr inde "give a name to"
hex senidemi "sixteen at a time"
oct octoni "eight at a time"
ord numera "number"
lc deminue "diminish"
lcfirst minue "diminish"
uc amplifica "increase"
ucfirst amplia "increase"
quotemeta excipe "make an exception"
crypt huma "inter"
length meta "measure"
pos reperi "locate"
pack convasa "pack baggage"
unpack deconvasa "unpack"
split scinde "split"
study stude "study"
index scruta "search"
join coniunge "join"
substr excerpe "extract"
Scalars, arrays, and hashes
defined confirma "verify"
undef iani "empty, make void"
scalar secerna "to distinguish, isolate"
reset lusta "cleanse"
pop decumula "unstack"
push cumula "stack"
shift decapita "behead"
unshift capita "crown"
splice iunge "splice"
grep vanne "winnow"
map applica "apply to"
sort digere "sort"
reverse retexe "reverse"
delete dele "delete"
each quisque "each"
exists adfirma "confirm"
keys nomina "name"
values argue "to disclose the contents"
I/O
open evolute "open a book"
close claude "close a book"
eof extremus "end of"
read lege "read"
getc sublege "pick up something"
readline perlege "read through"
print scribe "write"
printf describe "describe"
sprintf rescribe "rewrite"
write subscribe "write under"
pipe inriga "irrigate"
tell enunta "tell"
seek conquire "to seek out"
STDIN vestibulo "an entrance"
STDOUT egresso "an exit"
STDERR oraculo "a place were doom is pronounced"
DATA nuntio "information"
Control structures
{...} sic...cis "as follows...to here"
do fac "do"
sub {...} factorem sic...cis "one who does ...
eval aestima "evaluate"
exit exi "exit"
for per...in...fac "for...in...do"
foreach per quisque...in...fac "for each...in...do"
goto adi "go to"
<label>: inscribe <label> "make a mark"
return redde "return"
if si...fac "if"
unless nisi...fac "if not"
until donec...fac "until"
while dum...fac "while"
wantarray deside "want"
last ultimus "final"
next posterus "following"
redo reconatus "trying again"
continue confectus "complete"
die mori "die"
warn mone "warn"
croak coaxa "croak (like a frog)"
carp carpe "carp at"
__DATA__ nuntius "information"
__END__ finis "a boundary"
Packages, classes, and modules
-> apud "of the house of"
:: intra "within"
bless benedice "bless"
caller memora "recount a history"
package domus "house of "
ref agnosce "identify"
tie liga "tie"
tied exhibe "display something"
untie solve "to untie"
require require "require"
use ute "use"
System and filesystem interaction
chdir demigrare "migrate"
chmod permitte "permit"
chown vende "sell"
fcntl modera "control"
flock confluee "flock together"
glob inveni "search"
ioctl impera "command"
link copula "link"
unlink decopula "unlink"
mkdir aedifica "build"
rename renomina "rename"
rmdir excide "raze"
stat exprime "describe"
truncate trunca "shorten"
alarm terre "frighten"
dump mitte "drop"
exec commuta "transform"
fork furca "fork"
kill interfice "kill"
sleep dormi "sleep"
system obsecra "entreat a higher power"
umask dissimula "mask"
wait manta "wait for"
Miscellaneous
, tum "and then"
. sere "conjoin"
.. conscribe "enlist"
\ ad "towards"
= da "give"
#... adnota "annotate"
(... cum "with"
to_roman come "beautify"
DIIUDICATORES
The Lingua::Romana::Perligata module may issue the following diagnostic
messages:
Aliquod barbarum inveni: '%s'
Some foreign (non-Perligata) symbol was encountered. Commonly this
is a semi-colon where a period should have been used, but any other
non-alphanumeric will trigger the same error.
'-mentis' illicitum: '%s'
Perl does not (yet) support lvalue subroutines that return arrays.
Hence Perligata does not allow the *-mentis* suffix to be used on
user-defined verbs.
Index '%s' ordinalis non est
An index or key was specified as a numeral (e.g. *unum*), rather
than an ordinal (e.g. *primum*).
'%s' immaturum est
The symbol indicated (typically *tum*) appeared too early in the
command (e.g. before any accusative).
Iussum nefastum: '%s'
The indicated imperative verb was encountered where a resultative
was expected (e.g. the imperative was incorrectly used as an
argument to another subroutine or a conjunction).
Accusativum non junctum: '%s'
The indicated accusative noun or clause appears in a command, but
does not belong to any verb in the command.
Dativum non junctum: '%s'
The indicated dative noun or clause appears in a command, but does
not belong to any verb in the command.
Genitivum non junctum: '%s'
The indicated genitive noun or clause appears in a command, but does
not belong to any verb in the command.
Sententia imperfecta prope '%s'
The command or clause is missing an imperative verb.
Exspectavi 'sic' sed inveni '%s'
The beginning of a code block was expected at the point where the
indicated word was found.
Exspectavi 'cis' sed inveni '%s'
The end of a code block was expected at the point where the
indicated word was found.
Exspectavi accusativum post 'per' sed inveni '%s'
The *per* control structure takes an accusative noun after it. The
indicated symbol was found instead.
'in' pro 'per' afuit
The *in* in a *per* statement was missing.
'%s' dativus non est in 'per'
After the *in* of a *per* statement a dative noun or clause is
required. It was not found.
Iussa absentia per '%s'
The block of the indicated control statement was missing.
Non intellexi: '%s'
A general error message indicating the symbol was not understood in
the context it appeared.
In addition to these diagnostics, additional debugging support is
provided in the form of three arguments that may be passed to the call
to "use Lingua::Romana::Perligata".
The first of these -- "'converte'" ("translate") -- causes the module to
translate the Perligata code into Perl and write it to STDOUT instead of
executing it. This is useful when your Perligata compiles and runs, but
does not execute as you expected.
The second argument that may be passed when loading the module is
"'discribe'" ("classify"), which causes the module to print a lexical
analysis of the original Latin program. This is very handy for
identifying incorrect inflections, etc.
The final argument -- "'investiga'", ("trace") -- provides a
blow-by-blow trace of the translation process, tracking eack of the
internal stacks (the verb stack, the accusative stack, the dative stack,
the block stack), and showing where each reduction is performed. This
wealth of information tends to be useful only to those familiar with the
internals of the module.
GRATIAE
Special thanks to Marc Moskowitz, John Crossley, Tom Christiansen, and
Bennett Todd, for their invaluable feedback and suggestions. And my
enduring gratitude to David Secomb and Deane Blackman for their heroic
patience in helping me struggle with the perplexities of the *lingua
Romana*.
SCRIPTOR
Damian Conway ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
CIMICES
There are undoubtedly some very serious bugs lurking somewhere in code
this funky :-) Bug reports and other feedback are most welcome.
Corrections to my very poor Latin are doubly welcome.
IUS TRANSCRIBENDI
Copyright (c) 2000, Damian Conway. All Rights Reserved. This module is
free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the
terms of the Perl Artistic License (see
http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html)
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