HSL

The Human-readable Scripting Language (HSL) is an invention of mine designed to allow me to communicate computer instructions quickly, succinctly, and effectively.

Rules with Examples

The basic rules of the language are as follows:

• 1. The general format of each individual command is object_name[action]{OBJECT TYPE}. For example,

     1. start[click]{BUTTON}>

  2. Commands are separated with the > symbol:

     2. 1. start{MENU}>Control Panel{MENU ITEM} would represent two commands (i.e., user actions).

  3. Text enclosed with <> represents variable text: would represent your username; would represent your password. Note: you would NOT enter the angle brackets (< and >) unless they were actually part of your username/password.

• • • 1. If you username was "john" (without quotation marks) and your password was "secret" (without quotation marks) and you saw: Username:[<username>]{TEXT FIELD}>Password:[<password>]{TEXT FIELD}>, you should mentally replace this command with Username:["john"]{TEXT FIELD}>Password:["secret"]{TEXT FIELD}>

         1. 1. Note that you would NOT enter the quotation marks in the actual text field. The quotation marks designate that text is to be entered, and that it is to be entered exactly .

• 4. Comments are given between /* and */. Comments are not actions but serve as an area to give more information about the action. Comments relating to an action must be entered before the ending > mark.

• • 1. Firefox{PROGRAM}/* This is a comment */>

• 5. Instructions end with the symbol >->.

  6. Conditional/control statements begin with if, for, or while and end with : followed by the block of actions beginning on the following line indented by four spaces. If they are not complicated, they may be entered without any parentheses, otherwise, parentheses are required. For example,

• • • 1. if you are an administrator:

         1. Start{MENU}>Administrative Tools{MENU ITEM}>

      2. if (you are an administrator) or (you are not an administrator and you can run things as administrator):

• • • • 1. setup.exe{PROGRAM}

• • • 3. for every <username> and <password>:

• • • • 1. Username:[<username>]{TEXT FIELD}

        2. Password:[<password>]{TEXT FIELD}

        3. Save{BUTTON}

More Examples

Several examples will explain this better than an essay on what each part of the command does.

• 1. To get the user to open the Control Panel, the following command would be issued:

     1. start[click]{MENU}>Control Panel[click]{MENU ITEM}

  2. Since "click" would have to be entered very often often, it is often simply left out:

• • 1. start{MENU}>Control Panel{MENU ITEM}

• 3. A command to be executed inside a particular program is done as follows:

• • 1. Firefox[open program]{PROGRAM}>File{MENU}>Print{MENU ITEM}>OK{BUTTON}

• 4. Since "open program" would have to be entered very often, it is also often left out.

• • 1. Firefox{PROGRAM}>File{MENU}>Print{MENU ITEM}>OK{BUTTON}

• 5. To input text into a text Field of some sort (like an "input box"), the following form is used:

     2. 1. start{MENU}>Run...{MENU ITEM}>Open:["notepad"]{INPUT BOX}>OK{BUTTON}

           1. 1. The text "notepad" (without quotes) would be entered into the "Run" window.

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