Liana

liana
    n 1: a woody climbing usually tropical plant
    

Liane \Li*ane"\ (l[-i]*[=a]n"), Liana \Li*a"na\
   (l[-i]*[=a]"n[.a]), n. [F. liane; prob. akin to lien a band,
   fr. L. ligamen, fr. ligare to bind. Cf. {Lien}, n. ] (Bot.)
   A luxuriant woody plant, climbing high trees and having
   ropelike stems. The grapevine often has the habit of a liane.
   Lianes are abundant in the forests of the Amazon region.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Liana

   <language> A {C}-like, interpretive, {object-oriented
   programming} language, {class} library, and integrated
   development environment designed specifically for development
   of {application programs} for {Microsoft Windows} and {Windows
   NT}.  Designed by Jack Krupansky <[email protected]> of
   {Base Technology}, Liana was first released as a commercial
   product in August 1991.  The language is designed to be as
   easy to use as {BASIC}, as concise as {C}, and as flexible as
   {Smalltalk}.

   The {OOP} {syntax} of {C++} was chosen over the less familiar
   syntax of {Smalltalk} and {Objective-C} to appeal to {C}
   programmers and in recognition of C++ being the leading OOP
   language.  The syntax is a simplified subset of {C/C++}.  The
   {semantics} are also a simplified subset of C/C++, but
   extended to achieve the flexibility of Smalltalk.

   Liana is a typeless language (like {Lisp}, {Snobol} and
   {Smalltalk}), which means that the datatypes of variables,
   function parameters, and function return values are not needed
   since values carry the type information.  Hence, variables are
   simply containers for values and function parameters are
   simply pipes through which any type of value can flow.
   {Single inheritance}, but not {multiple inheritance}, is
   supported.  {Memory management} is automatic using {reference
   counting}.

   The library includes over 150 {classes}, for {dynamic arrays},
   {associative lookup} tables, windows, menus, dialogs,
   controls, bitmaps, cursors, icons, mouse movement, keyboard
   input, fonts, text and graphics display, {DDE}, and {MDI}.

   Liana provides flexible OOP support for Windows programming.
   For example, a {list box} automatically fills itself from an
   associated {object}.  That object is not some sort of special
   object, but is merely any object that "behaves like" an array
   (i.e., has a "size" member function that returns the number of
   elements, a "get" function that returns the ith element, and
   the text for each element is returned by calling the "text"
   member function for the element).

   A related product, C-odeScript, is an embeddable application
   scripting language.  It is an implementation of Liana which
   can be called from C/C++ applications to dynamically evaluate
   expressions and statement sequences.  This can be used to
   offer the end-user a macro/scripting capability or to allow
   the C/C++ application to be customized without changing the
   C/C++ source code.

   Here's a complete Liana program which illustrates the
   flexibility of the language semantics and the power of the
   class library:

    main
    {
      // Prompt user for a string.
      // No declaration needed for "x" (becomes a global variable.)
      x = ask ("Enter a String");

      // Use "+" operator to concatenate strings. Memory
      // management for string temporaries is automatic.  The
      // "message" function displays a Windows message box.
      message ("You entered: " + x);

      // Now x will take on a different type.  The "ask_number"
      // function will return a "real" if the user's input
      // contains a decimal point or an "int" if no decimal
      // point.
      x = ask_number ("Enter a Number");

      // The "+" operator with a string operand will
      // automatically convert the other operand to a string.

      message ("You entered: " + x);

      // Prompt user for a Liana expression.  Store it in a
      // local variable (the type, string, is merely for
      // documentation.)
      string expr = ask ("Enter an Expression");

      // Evaluate the expression. The return value of "eval"
      // could be any type.  The "source_format" member function
      // converts any value to its source format (e.g., add
      // quotes for a string.)  The "class_name" member function
      // return the name of the class of an object/value.
      // Empty parens can be left off for member function calls.
      x = eval (expr);
      message ("The value of " + expr + " is " + x.source_format +
          " its type is " + x.class_name);
    }

   The author explained that the "Li" of Liana stands for
   "Language interpreter" and liana are vines that grow up trees
   in tropical forests, which seemed quite appropriate for a tool
   to deal with the complexity of MS Windows!  It is also a
   woman's name.

   ["Liana for Windows", Aitken, P., PC TECHNIQUES, Dec/Jan
   1993].

   ["Liana: A Language For Writing Windows Programs", Burk, R.,
   Tech Specialist (R&D Publications), Sep 1991].

   ["Liana v. 1.0." Hildebrand, J.D., Computer Language, Dec
   1992].

   ["Liana: A Windows Programming Language Based on C and C++",
   Krupansky, J., The C Users Journal, Jul 1992].

   ["Writing a Multimedia App in Liana", Krupansky, J.,
   Dr. Dobb's Journal, Winter Multimedia Sourcebook 1994].

   ["The Liana Programming Language", R. Valdes, Dr Dobbs J Oct
   1993, pp.50-52].

   (1999-06-29)
    

54 Moby Thesaurus words for "liana":
      algae, autophyte, bean, bracken, brown algae, climber, conferva,
      confervoid, creeper, diatom, fern, fruits and vegetables, fucus,
      fungus, grapevine, green algae, gulfweed, herb, heterophyte, ivy,
      kelp, legume, lentil, lichen, liverwort, mold, moss, mushroom,
      parasite, parasitic plant, pea, perthophyte, phytoplankton,
      planktonic algae, plant families, puffball, pulse, red algae,
      rockweed, rust, saprophyte, sargasso, sargassum, sea lentil,
      sea moss, sea wrack, seaweed, smut, succulent, toadstool, vetch,
      vine, wort, wrack