Complete Maya Programming

Appendix B. MEL for C Programmers

For those familiar with C programming, it may come as no surprise that when you first look at a MEL command or script you note a great deal of similarity with the syntax used in the C programming language. In fact MEL is sometimes colloquially referred to as “C with $ signs.” While this isn't entirely devoid of truth, there are some important exceptions that differentiate the two languages.

Following is a list of the important differences:

• Since MEL is designed for fast prototyping and also to be more accessible to less-sophisticated programmers, it does away with many of the lower-level system responsibilities that a C programmer is burdened with. One of these responsibilities is the allocation and deallocation ...