<s>
SenseTalk	B-Language
is	O
a	O
high-level	O
English-like	O
scripting	B-Language
language	I-Language
in	O
the	O
XTalk	O
family	O
,	O
that	O
supports	O
both	O
procedural	O
and	O
object-oriented	B-Language
paradigms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SenseTalk	B-Language
scripts	O
are	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
largely	O
readable	O
by	O
ordinary	O
people	O
,	O
including	O
those	O
with	O
little	O
to	O
no	O
training	O
in	O
programming	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
this	O
end	O
,	O
SenseTalk	B-Language
includes	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
language	O
elements	O
that	O
provide	O
functionality	O
oriented	O
towards	O
human	O
tasks	O
rather	O
than	O
the	O
underlying	O
machine	O
behavior	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
shift	O
in	O
focus	O
away	O
from	O
the	O
underlying	O
machine	O
computation	O
,	O
towards	O
an	O
English-like	O
description	O
of	O
the	O
behavior	O
in	O
human	O
terms	O
leads	O
to	O
the	O
description	O
of	O
SenseTalk	B-Language
as	O
a	O
“	O
People	O
Oriented	O
Programming	O
language	O
”	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
self-styled	O
“	O
People	O
Oriented	O
Programming	O
”	O
language	O
,	O
certain	O
aspects	O
of	O
SenseTalk	B-Language
’s	O
design	O
distinguish	O
it	O
from	O
other	O
programming	O
languages	O
,	O
and	O
give	O
it	O
a	O
distinctive	O
flavor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SenseTalk	B-Language
keywords	O
and	O
variable	O
names	O
are	O
all	O
case-insensitive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
also	O
true	O
of	O
the	O
names	O
of	O
properties	O
in	O
a	O
property	O
list	O
(	O
SenseTalk	B-Language
’s	O
name	O
for	O
a	O
dictionary	O
or	O
hash	O
table	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
having	O
case-insensitive	O
names	O
,	O
variable	O
in	O
SenseTalk	B-Language
are	O
unusual	O
in	O
some	O
other	O
respects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
flexibility	O
goes	O
beyond	O
the	O
“	O
duck	B-Application
typing	I-Application
”	O
found	O
in	O
other	O
languages	O
,	O
in	O
which	O
a	O
given	O
variable	O
has	O
a	O
type	O
which	O
is	O
established	O
when	O
a	O
value	O
is	O
assigned	O
to	O
the	O
variable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
SenseTalk	B-Language
,	O
a	O
variable	O
is	O
considered	O
a	O
“	O
container	O
”	O
that	O
may	O
contain	O
any	O
type	O
of	O
value	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
consequence	O
of	O
SenseTalk	B-Language
’s	O
typeless	O
variables	O
is	O
that	O
,	O
in	O
general	O
,	O
there	O
are	O
no	O
“	O
overloaded	O
”	O
operators	O
—	O
that	O
is	O
,	O
operators	O
which	O
perform	O
different	O
operations	O
depending	O
on	O
the	O
type	O
of	O
variable	O
they	O
are	O
working	O
with	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
SenseTalk	B-Language
,	O
operands	O
are	O
all	O
fluid	O
,	O
so	O
it	O
is	O
necessary	O
to	O
have	O
one	O
operator	O
to	O
perform	O
addition	O
(	O
,	O
which	O
will	O
treat	O
its	O
operands	O
as	O
numbers	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
another	O
operator	O
for	O
string	O
concatenation	O
(	O
,	O
which	O
will	O
treat	O
its	O
operands	O
as	O
strings	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SenseTalk	B-Language
includes	O
hundreds	O
of	O
“	O
predefined	O
variables	O
”	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SenseTalk	B-Language
allows	O
numeric	O
values	O
to	O
have	O
associated	O
units	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SenseTalk	B-Language
recognizes	O
dates	O
and	O
times	O
in	O
a	O
wide	O
variety	O
of	O
formats	O
,	O
and	O
supports	O
date	O
and	O
time	O
calculations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SenseTalk	B-Language
’s	O
chunk	O
expressions	O
come	O
from	O
its	O
heritage	O
as	O
a	O
member	O
of	O
the	O
XTalk	O
family	O
of	O
languages	O
derived	O
from	O
HyperTalk	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
SenseTalk	B-Language
expands	O
upon	O
the	O
original	O
chunk	O
syntax	O
,	O
and	O
extends	O
their	O
use	O
beyond	O
text	O
,	O
to	O
items	O
within	O
a	O
list	O
and	O
bytes	O
within	O
binary	O
data	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SenseTalk	B-Language
includes	O
commands	O
for	O
opening	O
,	O
reading	O
,	O
and	O
writing	O
files	O
,	O
but	O
they	O
are	O
rarely	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Accessing	O
records	O
in	O
a	O
database	O
is	O
more	O
complex	O
than	O
reading	O
a	O
file	O
,	O
but	O
SenseTalk	B-Language
applies	O
the	O
concept	O
of	O
containers	O
here	O
,	O
too	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SenseTalk	B-Language
’s	O
“	O
pattern	O
language	O
”	O
implements	O
regular	B-Language
expressions	I-Language
using	O
a	O
readable	O
,	O
English-like	O
syntax	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SenseTalk	B-Language
language	O
first	O
appeared	O
in	O
1992	O
as	O
the	O
scripting	B-Language
language	I-Language
in	O
HyperSense	O
,	O
a	O
multimedia	O
authoring	O
application	O
for	O
the	O
NeXTSTEP	B-Application
platform	O
,	O
modeled	O
after	O
HyperCard	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
that	O
time	O
the	O
language	O
was	O
little	O
more	O
than	O
copy	O
of	O
HyperCard	B-Application
's	O
HyperTalk	B-Language
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
more	O
ambitious	O
rethinking	O
and	O
redesign	O
of	O
the	O
language	O
resulted	O
in	O
the	O
beginnings	O
of	O
the	O
present	O
language	O
,	O
with	O
version	O
0.02	O
shipping	O
as	O
the	O
scripting	B-Language
language	I-Language
in	O
Eggplant	O
V1.0	O
in	O
2002	O
.	O
</s>
