<s>
The	O
S-Lang	B-Device
programming	B-Library
library	I-Library
is	O
a	O
software	B-Library
library	I-Library
for	O
Unix	B-Application
,	O
Windows	B-Application
,	O
VMS	B-Operating_System
,	O
OS/2	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
provides	O
routines	O
for	O
embedding	O
an	O
interpreter	B-Application
for	O
the	O
S-Lang	B-Device
scripting	B-Language
language	I-Language
,	O
and	O
components	O
to	O
facilitate	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
text-based	B-Application
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
distributed	O
under	O
the	O
terms	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-License
General	I-License
Public	I-License
License	I-License
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
S-Lang	B-Device
programming	B-Library
library	I-Library
was	O
started	O
in	O
1992	O
by	O
John	O
E	O
.	O
Davis	O
,	O
considering	O
that	O
functions	O
he	O
wrote	O
for	O
a	O
text	O
editor	O
might	O
be	O
useful	O
in	O
other	O
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
earliest	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
library	O
contained	O
input/output	O
routines	O
for	O
interacting	O
with	O
computer	O
terminals	O
and	O
an	O
implementation	O
of	O
a	O
simple	O
stack-based	O
interpreter	B-Application
with	O
a	O
PostScript-like	O
syntax	O
that	O
he	O
developed	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
a	O
scientific	O
plotting	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
JED	B-Application
text	O
editor	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
program	O
to	O
both	O
embed	O
the	O
interpreter	B-Application
and	O
use	O
the	O
terminal	O
I/O	O
components	O
of	O
the	O
library	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
interpreter	B-Application
makes	O
up	O
most	O
of	O
the	O
S-Lang	B-Device
library	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
also	O
where	O
most	O
of	O
the	O
development	O
takes	O
place	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
original	O
syntax	O
supported	O
by	O
the	O
interpreter	B-Application
resembled	O
PostScript	B-Language
,	O
the	O
syntax	O
has	O
evolved	O
to	O
be	O
much	O
more	O
C-like	O
,	O
with	O
additional	O
support	O
for	O
object-oriented	O
style	O
constructs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
reflection	O
of	O
Davis	O
's	O
background	O
in	O
physics	O
and	O
professional	O
interest	O
in	O
scientific	O
computing	O
,	O
the	O
language	O
natively	O
supports	O
many	O
vectorized	O
array-based	O
operations	O
similar	O
to	O
MATLAB	B-Language
and	O
IDL	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Until	O
version	O
2.0	O
,	O
the	O
interpreter	B-Application
was	O
not	O
a	O
standalone	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
the	O
interpreter	B-Application
meant	O
either	O
embedding	O
it	O
in	O
a	O
C	O
program	O
,	O
or	O
using	O
it	O
in	O
the	O
context	O
of	O
another	O
application	O
(	O
e.g.	O
,	O
the	O
JED	B-Application
editor	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
S-Lang	B-Device
shell	O
,	O
slsh	B-Device
,	O
was	O
a	O
demonstration	O
program	O
capable	O
of	O
little	O
more	O
than	O
running	O
scripts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
2.0	O
,	O
released	O
in	O
2005	O
,	O
made	O
slsh	B-Device
interactive	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
has	O
evolved	O
into	O
an	O
application	O
in	O
its	O
own	O
right	O
,	O
with	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
external	O
modules	O
for	O
use	O
by	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
such	O
,	O
it	O
has	O
become	O
the	O
S-Lang	B-Device
interpreter	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
mid-1990s	O
while	O
porting	O
the	O
sc	B-Device
spreadsheet	O
to	O
the	O
S-Lang	B-Device
library	O
,	O
Davis	O
developed	O
the	O
library	O
's	O
screen	O
management	O
facility	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
slrn	B-Language
newsreader	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
application	O
to	O
make	O
full	O
use	O
of	O
this	O
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
then	O
,	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
other	O
programs	O
(	O
e.g.	O
,	O
Mutt	B-Device
)	O
have	O
taken	O
advantage	O
of	O
this	O
feature	O
of	O
the	O
library	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
has	O
become	O
arguably	O
the	O
most	O
used	O
aspect	O
of	O
the	O
library	O
,	O
as	O
this	O
component	O
is	O
considered	O
to	O
be	O
an	O
alternative	O
to	O
curses	B-Device
.	O
</s>
