Lingo in a Nutshell

Glossary

This glossary presents key definitions pertaining to Lingo and Director. See also http://www.zeusprod.com/glossary/.

argument

n. A piece of data used by a function that is required when you make the function call. For example, if you were multiplying two numbers, the numbers themselves would be arguments passed to the multiply handler. Sometimes used synonymously with “parameter” or “operand.”

asynchronous

adj. An idle loading or network operation is asynchronous because the requested data may not be available immediately. Asynchronous operations usually provide some way to check their status, such as using netDone().

authoring

n. “Authoring” refers to the Director development environment. Contrasted with runtime or playback (Projectors).

Behavior

n. A Behavior script. Macromedia’s name for a reusable script that can be attached to a sprite or a frame. The handlers defined in the script give it a certain behavior.

behavior

n. The way in which an item operates.

Boolean

n. or adj. A value that can be either 0 (indicating false) or nonzero (indicating true), usually represented in Lingo by the constants TRUE and FALSE, which equal 1 and 0, respectively. Not to be confused with the strings “TRUE” and “FALSE.”

call

1. v. To run a Lingo handler by typing its name in the Message window or including its name in another Lingo script. 2. n. A line of Lingo code that calls another handler (synonymous with “function call”). The function call may also require additional parameters or ...