Squiffy as a toy language

Whether you want to call it a mini-language, a toy language or something else, Squiffy starts out easy, demonstrates some flexibility, and then opens the door for a real language, JavaScript, to take over.

One other similar mini-language is Perchance. I would distinguish Perchance and Squiffy from Blockly and Scratch, which are complete languages with excellent educational advantages.

Do any of you know of any other mini-languages that start out super easy?


BASIC... but it's far more powerful than a mini-language.
But why are you searching for mini-languages?
Why not go for Quest?


Hi DarkLizerd! Thanks for the suggestion.

Why are you searching for mini-languages?
I'm too dumb to learn a real language like JavaScript or even Inform7. Squiffy and Perchance let me be more anal retentive and interactive than word processors such as Word or Powerpoint. But there's barely any learning curve. I'm curious what other toy languages are out there that allow dummies to program specific types of interactivity.
BASIC... but it's far more powerful than a mini-language.
Hey, thanks. At a glance, I might not be too dumb to learn it. I'll give it a couple months and see.
Why not go for Quest?
Quest can't handle Mandarin Chinese at present. Also the browser version is too sticky for my large-group needs, though I'm told it's better if you download a game.

I learned Basic, starting in 1982, by buying a computer and a game book where you had to type in the code to play the games.
(People now a days miss that "fun".)
Now I use VB6 (from 1998) haven't jumped into VB 10 yet.
(and both are free for download)


Yeah, I wrote in Atari basic for years, starting in 1977 or so - even sold a game to SSI which paid my way through college.

I really love VBA in Microsoft Excel - lots you can do with it, especially tied to a spreadsheet. It was pretty simple to learn and powerful once I had. My spreadsheets at work were legendary - they are still in wide use even two years after I retired.

As far as the comment that Squiffy is a "toy language", I'm a little taken aback by this statement. Squiffy is pretty powerful in that it gives access to people who might not be comfortable with coding. They can quickly write a gamebook application and experiment with it. And isn't that the whole point of a computer language, to allow users to interact with their machines? I guess I'm touchy on this - I've had to deal with 40 years of coders writing elegant but incomprehensible code, code with is difficult to decipher and frustrating to support. In this, it's like an airline pilot deciding to stunt his plane and make you airsick, when all you wanted was a simple flight to Denver.

I am going to say this - for the applications I write, Squiffy fits the bill. It's simple and with a little JS functionality, it provides an ease of use for a randomized adventure game that can be played over and over. Quest did not allow me to do this and was much more difficult for me to use. So yes, I'm sticking with Squiffy.


I'm not being insulting at all by that term. I love Squiffy! I'm curious about what other incomplete but easy-to-get-the-hang-of languages are out there.

Squiffy is super easy, and nesting allows all kinds of neat tricks. Squiffy+mrangel's additions, even more so. Perchance is also super easy, but emphasizes different powers. Neither can do absolutely EVERYthing without JS, but nobody wants them to.


I really love VBA in Microsoft Excel - lots you can do with it, especially tied to a spreadsheet. It was pretty simple to learn and powerful once I had. My spreadsheets at work were legendary - they are still in wide use even two years after I retired.

Did you hear it's not necessary now? With the addition of the LAMBDA function, excel formulae are now a full programming language.
It seems like there's a kind of race between Excel and Google Sheets, trying to make the most powerful expression-based language. Haven't checked if Excel can do SQL queries yet, but saw it in my newsfeed when LAMBDA was added.


I'm just and old VBA gnome. Like Squiffy, I love that I can throw out code pretty quickly. And in excel, for complicated processes, you can either do them in VBA or use a spreadsheet as a big function that allows you to see what you are doing.


I will defend Squiffy with all of my power. It's proven to be remarkably flexible with easy to manipulate CSS and HTML files and how open it is to Javascript. Squiffy is easy to read and easy to learn, and easy to edit. The attribute functions it already has are already enough to create some solid games! Leave Quest for the parchment games.

Look at it this way. If you have a tiny camera that you're able to shoot top-notch quality on, why go for a big, giant, more complex camera that only lets you do one or two minor things better than your small one? Is it worth the price?

Squiffy is wonderful.


I agree, broadwaydude. I'm just wondering if anybody knows of other mini-languages. I just find the concept fascinating.


I wouldn't call Squiffy a toy language (or a language at all, really). It's more like a game engine; it provides all the standard features for the genre, while allowing you to use javascript if you want to do anything else.


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