cT(ID:2777/ct:001)

The cT programming language is an algorithmic language like C, Pascal, Fortran, and Basic, but greatly enhanced by multimedia capabilities, including easy-to-use support for color graphics, mouse interactions, and even movies in QuickTime or Video for Windows format
References:
  • Bruce A. Sherwood and Jill H. Larkin, "New tools for courseware production." Journal of Computing in Higher Education, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 3-20, 1989. view details
  • Center for Design of Educational Computing, CMU, "The cT Programming Language", Falcon Software (Wentworth, NH, 1989). view details
  • Hansen, Wilfred J. "Subsequence References: First-Class Values for Substrings" ACM Trans. Programming Languages and Systems, 14 (4), Oct., 1992, pp. 471-489. view details Abstract: Arrays of characters are a basic data type in many programming languages, but strings and substrings are seldom accorded first-class status as parameters and return values. Such status would enable a routine that calls a search function to readily access context on both sides of a return value. To enfranchise substrings, this paper describes a new data type for substrings as a special case of one for general subsequences. The key idea is that values are not sequences or references to positions in sequences, but rather references to subsequences. Primitive operations on the data type are constants, concatenation, and four new functions--base, start, next, and extent--which map subsequence references to subsequence references.
    This paper informally presents the data type, demonstrates its convenience for defining search functions, and shows how it can be concisely implemented. Examples are given in Ness, a language incorporating the new data type which is implemented as part of the Andrew Toolkit.

    Extract: ct and Ness
    The subsequence reference data type has been implemented in two languages: Ness [Hansen, 1989b; Hansen, 1990] and cT [CDEC, 1989]. Both were originally implemented under the Andrew Toolkit (ATK) [Morris, 1986; Palay, 1988], although cT has recently been re-implemented. The capability range of ATK is illustrated by this paper: a single file with various embedded objects created using ATK's ez text editor. Examples below are given in Ness, the implementation of which permits typographic styling and embedded objects in program text and constants; the program fragments below were compiled and executed with the styles as shown.