The set of meaning codes used when Inform runs the excerpt parser.

§1. See Excerpt Meanings (in lexicon) for more, but briefly: the lexicon module provides a parser for "excerpts" of natural language text. The user of that module is supposed to provide bitmap-friendly codes which categorise the various meanings likely to be given. Several modules do this, but this is where the Inform compiler-specific codes appear.

define VOID_PHRASE_MC          0x00000010  e.g., award # points
define VALUE_PHRASE_MC         0x00000020  e.g., number of rows in #
define COND_PHRASE_MC          0x00000040  e.g., # has not ended
define PROPERTY_MC             0x00000080  e.g., carrying capacity
define NAMED_CONSTANT_MC       0x00000100  e.g., green
define TABLE_MC                    0x00000200  e.g., table of rankings
define TABLE_COLUMN_MC         0x00000400  e.g., rank
define RULE_MC                 0x00000800  e.g., update chronological records rule
define RULEBOOK_MC             0x00001000  e.g., instead
define ACTIVITY_MC             0x00002000  e.g., reading a command
define EQUATION_MC             0x00004000  e.g., Newton's Second Law
define VARIABLE_MC             0x00008000  e.g., left hand status line
define NAMED_AP_MC             0x00010000  e.g., bad behaviour
define SAY_PHRASE_MC           0x00020000  e.g., say # in words
define PHRASE_CONSTANT_MC      0x00040000  e.g., doubling function

§2. This one is used only by the if module, but let's define it here anyway:

define ACTION_PARTICIPLE_MC        0x02000000  a word like "taking"

§3. We use callback functions to tell lexicon any special rules for parsing excerpts with these codes:

define EM_CASE_SENSITIVITY_TEST_LEXICON_CALLBACK MeaningCodes::case_sensitivity
define EM_ALLOW_BLANK_TEST_LEXICON_CALLBACK MeaningCodes::allow_blank
define EM_IGNORE_DEFINITE_ARTICLE_TEST_LEXICON_CALLBACK MeaningCodes::ignore_definite_article

int MeaningCodes::case_sensitivity(unsigned int mc) {
    if (mc == SAY_PHRASE_MC) return TRUE;
    return FALSE;
}

int MeaningCodes::allow_blank(unsigned int mc) {
    if (mc == SAY_PHRASE_MC) return TRUE;
    return FALSE;
}

int MeaningCodes::ignore_definite_article(unsigned int mc) {
    if ((mc & SAY_PHRASE_MC) == 0) return TRUE;
    return FALSE;
}

§4. We decide which form of parsing to use with the following bitmaps:

define EXACT_PARSING_BITMAP
    (MISCELLANEOUS_MC + PROPERTY_MC + ADJECTIVE_MC +
    NAMED_CONSTANT_MC + VARIABLE_MC + KIND_SLOW_MC + RULE_MC + RULEBOOK_MC +
    TABLE_MC + TABLE_COLUMN_MC + NAMED_AP_MC + ACTIVITY_MC + EQUATION_MC +
    PHRASE_CONSTANT_MC)
define SUBSET_PARSING_BITMAP
    (NOUN_MC)
define PARAMETRISED_PARSING_BITMAP
    (VOID_PHRASE_MC + VALUE_PHRASE_MC + COND_PHRASE_MC + SAY_PHRASE_MC)

§5. The lexicon module is generally quite uncomplaining, but:

define PROBLEM_LEXICON_CALLBACK MeaningCodes::linguistics_problem_handler

void MeaningCodes::linguistics_problem_handler(int err_no, wording W, void *ref, int k) {
    switch (err_no) {
        case TooLongName_LEXICONERROR:
            StandardProblems::sentence_problem(Task::syntax_tree(), _p_(PM_TooLongName),
                "that seems to involve far too long a name",
                "since in general names are limited to a maximum of 32 words.");
            break;
        default: internal_error("unimplemented problem message");
    }
}

§6. Here we log a general bitmap made up from meaning codes:

define LOG_UNENUMERATED_NODE_TYPES_SYNTAX_CALLBACK MeaningCodes::log_meaning_code

void MeaningCodes::log_meaning_code(OUTPUT_STREAM, unsigned int mc) {
    int i, f = FALSE;
    unsigned int j;
    for (i=0, j=1; i<31; i++, j*=2)
        if (mc & j) {
            if (f) LOG(" + "); f = TRUE;
            switch (j) {
                case ACTION_PARTICIPLE_MC: WRITE("ACTION_PARTICIPLE_MC"); break;
                case ACTIVITY_MC: WRITE("ACTIVITY_MC"); break;
                case ADJECTIVE_MC: WRITE("ADJECTIVE_MC"); break;
                case COND_PHRASE_MC: WRITE("COND_PHRASE_MC"); break;
                case EQUATION_MC: WRITE("EQUATION_MC"); break;
                case I6_MC: WRITE("I6_MC"); break;
                case ING_MC: WRITE("ING_MC"); break;
                case KIND_FAST_MC: WRITE("KIND_FAST_MC"); break;
                case KIND_SLOW_MC: WRITE("KIND_SLOW_MC"); break;
                case MISCELLANEOUS_MC: WRITE("MISCELLANEOUS_MC"); break;
                case NAMED_AP_MC: WRITE("NAMED_AP_MC"); break;
                case NAMED_CONSTANT_MC: WRITE("NAMED_CONSTANT_MC"); break;
                case NOUN_MC: WRITE("NOUN_MC"); break;
                case NUMBER_MC: WRITE("NUMBER_MC"); break;
                case ORDINAL_MC: WRITE("ORDINAL_MC"); break;
                case PHRASE_CONSTANT_MC: WRITE("PHRASE_CONSTANT_MC"); break;
                case PREPOSITION_MC: WRITE("PREPOSITION_MC"); break;
                case PROPERTY_MC: WRITE("PROPERTY_MC"); break;
                case RULE_MC: WRITE("RULE_MC"); break;
                case RULEBOOK_MC: WRITE("RULEBOOK_MC"); break;
                case SAY_PHRASE_MC: WRITE("SAY_PHRASE_MC"); break;
                case TABLE_COLUMN_MC: WRITE("TABLE_COLUMN_MC"); break;
                case TABLE_MC: WRITE("TABLE_MC"); break;
                case TEXT_MC: WRITE("TEXT_MC"); break;
                case TEXTWITHSUBS_MC: WRITE("TEXTWITHSUBS_MC"); break;
                case VALUE_PHRASE_MC: WRITE("VALUE_PHRASE_MC"); break;
                case VARIABLE_MC: WRITE("VARIABLE_MC"); break;
                case VOID_PHRASE_MC: WRITE("VOID_PHRASE_MC"); break;
                default: WRITE("<unknown-mc>"); break;
            }
        }
}