PERUSE - Python Editing with Radio Userland's Script Editor

This a Third Year (Pass) Project

Synopsis

Radio Userland (RU) [1] has an inbuilt script editor that uses an outliner paradigm to impose structure on the RU Usertalk [2][3][4] language. The structure is imposed by the indentation levels of the statements and thus local variable scope, compound statements, etc., can all be represented without the need to introduce 'syntactic sugar' like curly braces, semicolons, etc., used in languages like C and Java.

Python [5] is similar to Usertalk in that it too uses the level of indentation to define program structure. Given the similarity of the two approaches the purpose of this project is to undertake the design and implementation of a simple Python editor using the in-built outline editing capabilities of RU.

It is unlikely that the final implementation of the editor will be capable of more sophisticated editing functions such as syntax checking of the Python source as this is beyond the bounds of a 3rd year pass degree project. However, there is scope to look at the integration of PERUSE with some form of Python development environment. As RU outlines are stored in OPML [6] (Outline Processor Markup Language), which is an XML [7] representation of the document, the exchange of OPML formatted outlines between PERUSE and a Python compiler looks feasible.

Language(s)

• Python
• UserTalk

Platform

• Unix/Windows/Mac and
• Radio Userland

References/Related

1. http://radio.userland.com
2. http://drmatt.userland.com/userTalkStart.html
3. http://www.ojai.net/matt/frontierDef/ch00.html
4. http://docserver.userland.com
5. http://www.python.org
6. http://radiodiscuss.userland.com/opmlSpec
7. http://www.w3.org/XML