<s>
The	O
Maya	B-Language
Embedded	I-Language
Language	I-Language
(	O
MEL	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
scripting	B-Language
language	I-Language
used	O
to	O
simplify	O
tasks	O
in	O
the	O
3D	O
graphics	O
software	O
Autodesk	B-Language
Maya	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
tasks	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
achieved	O
through	O
Maya	B-Language
's	O
GUI	B-Application
can	O
be	O
achieved	O
with	O
MEL	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
certain	O
tasks	O
that	O
are	O
not	O
available	O
from	O
the	O
GUI	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
MEL	O
is	O
syntactically	O
similar	O
to	O
Perl	B-Language
and	O
Tcl	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
provides	O
some	O
memory	O
management	O
and	O
dynamic	O
array-allocation	O
,	O
and	O
offers	O
direct	O
access	O
to	O
functions	O
specific	O
to	O
Maya	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
majority	O
of	O
standard	O
Maya	B-Language
commands	O
are	O
default	O
MEL	O
scripts	O
,	O
saved	O
in	O
the	O
Maya	B-Language
Program	O
Files	O
directory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MEL	O
is	O
fairly	O
limited	O
compared	O
to	O
mainstream	O
scripting	B-Language
languages	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
primarily	O
a	O
language	O
meant	O
to	O
journal	O
the	O
Maya	B-Language
session	O
,	O
so	O
it	O
lacks	O
many	O
advanced	O
features	O
such	O
as	O
associative	O
arrays	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Python	B-Language
was	O
added	O
to	O
Maya	B-Language
as	O
an	O
alternative	O
to	O
MEL	O
in	O
Maya	B-Language
8.5	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Still	O
MEL	O
offers	O
some	O
advantages	O
to	O
Python	B-Language
:	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
lot	O
of	O
legacy	O
code	O
and	O
inner	O
working	O
of	O
Maya	B-Language
is	O
in	O
MEL	O
form	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
provides	O
many	O
insights	O
into	O
undocumented	O
inner	O
workings	O
of	O
Maya	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
practice	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
MEL	O
is	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
metaprogramming	B-Application
language	O
where	O
MEL	O
just	O
instructs	O
Maya	B-Language
's	O
node	O
architecture	O
to	O
solve	O
the	O
problem	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
nodes	O
form	O
the	O
actual	O
computational	O
core	O
of	O
Maya	B-Language
using	O
a	O
more	O
robust	O
readily	O
apparent	O
programming	O
method	O
would	O
be	O
a	O
very	O
inefficient	O
approach	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
many	O
ways	O
MEL	O
complements	O
the	O
Maya	B-Language
API	O
,	O
with	O
somewhat	O
clear	O
boundaries	O
between	O
allocated	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Maya	B-Language
also	O
offers	O
an	O
expression	O
language	O
that	O
is	O
a	O
super-set	O
of	O
MEL	O
,	O
and	O
results	O
in	O
nodes	O
that	O
are	O
executed	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
Maya	B-Language
's	O
dependency	O
graph	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Expressions	O
are	O
developed	O
with	O
Maya	B-Language
's	O
expression	O
editor	O
,	O
and	O
allow	O
scripts	O
to	O
trigger	O
while	O
Maya	B-Language
evaluates	O
the	O
scene	O
file	O
at	O
each	O
change	O
in	O
time	O
,	O
to	O
simulate	O
complex	O
behaviors	O
or	O
perform	O
other	O
useful	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
