John:
I tried a while back to netmail you at 1:130/1008, which is where you
used to post messages, but that approach didn't work, so I'll try a
public message here in QUIK_BAS, where we used to converse.
Back in November of last year you and I were discussing LPM, my pattern
matching language, which at that time was at about version 2.0 and was
written for Visual Basic for DOS.  I mentioned that I would be porting
my VBDOS code over to PowerBASIC to take advantage of a few features of
PB and to make LPM into a Clarion callable ISR.
To date, LPM has been ported over completely to PowerBASIC, and greatly
improved from where we were discussing it.  LPM Pro, the inhouse version
I use at AhuraMazda(tm) Software, is now at version 4.0, and includes
the following features:  (* indicates new since PB implementation)
1.        literal matching
2.        alternation matching
3.        character set matching
4.        wildcard matching
5.        Soundex matching
6.        list matching (class matching)
7.        class casting (string disection)
8.*       short cut matching (under most conditions)
9.        macros with params and default params
10.*      productions
11.*      context matching
12.       three types of lists:
          A.*     single member   (like a string)
          B.      multiple member (like a string array)
          C.      complex member
                        may contain:
                  I.            literals
                  II.           sublists
                  III.*         LPM clauses
                  IV.*          LPM rules
                  V.            DBASE pointer (PROPOSED FEATURE)
13.       lists are stored in EMS pages as required  to conserve memory
14.*      user defined error conditions
Probably the biggest feature is one I just added in version 4.0 --
custom match claues.  This feature allows me to extend the language
itself without recompiling the LPM engine.  I can just link in libraries
of match types as new ones are developed.  This allows LPM to have
different flavors -- one for natural language pattern matching, one for
math parsers, one for compiler compilers, one for BNF parsers... rather
than make a million intrinsic match types, I can just make custom
types....  My look into Vanilla SNOBOL4 helped with this idea....
Anyway, I don't know if this message is going to reach you, John, but I
hope it does, and I hope you still have some interest in working with
LPM....
['Jamshid';'Quinn'@
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