Liana

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Liane \Li*ane"\ (l[-i]*[=a]n"), Liana \Li*a"na\
     (l[-i]*[=a]"n[.a]), n. [F. liane; prob. akin to lien a band,
     fr. L. ligamen, fr. ligare to bind. Cf. {Lien}, n. ] (Bot.)
     A luxuriant woody plant, climbing high trees and having
     ropelike stems. The grapevine often has the habit of a liane.
     Lianes are abundant in the forests of the Amazon region.


     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  liana
       n : a woody climbing usually tropical plant

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  54 Moby Thesaurus words for "liana":
     algae, autophyte, bean, bracken, brown algae, climber, conferva,
     confervoid, creeper, diatom, fern, fruits and vegetables, fucus,
     fungus, grapevine, green algae, gulfweed, herb, heterophyte, ivy,
     kelp, legume, lentil, lichen, liverwort, mold, moss, mushroom,
     parasite, parasitic plant, pea, perthophyte, phytoplankton,
     planktonic algae, plant families, puffball, pulse, red algae,
     rockweed, rust, saprophyte, sargasso, sargassum, sea lentil,
     sea moss, sea wrack, seaweed, smut, succulent, toadstool, vetch,
     vine, wort, wrack
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  Liana
       
           A {C}-like, interpretive, {object-oriented
          programming} language, {class} library, and integrated
          development environment designed specifically for development
          of {application programs} for {Microsoft Windows} and {Windows
          NT}.  Designed by Jack Krupansky  of
          {Base Technology}, Liana was first released as a commercial
          product in August 1991.  The language is designed to be as
          easy to use as {BASIC}, as concise as {C}, and as flexible as
          {Smalltalk}.
       
          The {OOP} {syntax} of {C++} was chosen over the less familiar
          syntax of {Smalltalk} and {Objective-C} to appeal to {C}
          programmers and in recognition of C++ being the leading OOP
          language.  The syntax is a simplified subset of {C/C++}.  The
          {semantics} are also a simplified subset of C/C++, but
          extended to achieve the flexibility of Smalltalk.
       
          Liana is a typeless language (like {Lisp}, {Snobol} and
          {Smalltalk}), which means that the datatypes of variables,
          function parameters, and function return values are not needed
          since values carry the type information.  Hence, variables are
          simply containers for values and function parameters are
          simply pipes through which any type of value can flow.
          {Single inheritance}, but not {multiple inheritance}, is
          supported.  {Memory management} is automatic using {reference
          counting}.
       
          The library includes over 150 {classes}, for {dynamic arrays},
          {associative lookup} tables, windows, menus, dialogs,
          controls, bitmaps, cursors, icons, mouse movement, keyboard
          input, fonts, text and graphics display, {DDE}, and {MDI}.
       
          Liana provides flexible OOP support for Windows programming.
          For example, a {list box} automatically fills itself from an
          associated {object}.  That object is not some sort of special
          object, but is merely any object that "behaves like" an array
          (i.e., has a "size" member function that returns the number of
          elements, a "get" function that returns the ith element, and
          the text for each element is returned by calling the "text"
          member function for the element).
       
          A related product, C-odeScript, is an embeddable application
          scripting language.  It is an implementation of Liana which
          can be called from C/C++ applications to dynamically evaluate
          expressions and statement sequences.  This can be used to
          offer the end-user a macro/scripting capability or to allow
          the C/C++ application to be customized without changing the
          C/C++ source code.
       
          Here's a complete Liana program which illustrates the
          flexibility of the language semantics and the power of the
          class library:
       
           main
           {
             // Prompt user for a string.
             // No declaration needed for "x" (becomes a global variable.)
             x = ask ("Enter a String");
       
             // Use "+" operator to concatenate strings. Memory
             // management for string temporaries is automatic.  The
             // "message" function displays a Windows message box.
             message ("You entered: " + x);
       
             // Now x will take on a different type.  The "ask_number"
             // function will return a "real" if the user's input
             // contains a decimal point or an "int" if no decimal
             // point.
             x = ask_number ("Enter a Number");
       
             // The "+" operator with a string operand will
             // automatically convert the other operand to a string.
       
             message ("You entered: " + x);
       
             // Prompt user for a Liana expression.  Store it in a
             // local variable (the type, string, is merely for
             // documentation.)
             string expr = ask ("Enter an Expression");
       
             // Evaluate the expression. The return value of "eval"
             // could be any type.  The "source_format" member function
             // converts any value to its source format (e.g., add
             // quotes for a string.)  The "class_name" member function
             // return the name of the class of an object/value.
             // Empty parens can be left off for member function calls.
             x = eval (expr);
             message ("The value of " + expr + " is " + x.source_format +
                 " its type is " + x.class_name);
           }
       
          The author explained that the "Li" of Liana stands for
          "Language interpreter" and liana are vines that grow up trees
          in tropical forests, which seemed quite appropriate for a tool
          to deal with the complexity of MS Windows!  It is also a
          woman's name.
       
          ["Liana for Windows", Aitken, P., PC TECHNIQUES, Dec/Jan
          1993].
       
          ["Liana: A Language For Writing Windows Programs", Burk, R.,
          Tech Specialist (R&D Publications), Sep 1991].
       
          ["Liana v. 1.0." Hildebrand, J.D., Computer Language, Dec
          1992].
       
          ["Liana: A Windows Programming Language Based on C and C++",
          Krupansky, J., The C Users Journal, Jul 1992].
       
          ["Writing a Multimedia App in Liana", Krupansky, J.,
          Dr. Dobb's Journal, Winter Multimedia Sourcebook 1994].
       
          ["The Liana Programming Language", R. Valdes, Dr Dobbs J Oct
          1993, pp.50-52].
       
          (1999-06-29)