View source for Business Rules!

====General Introduction====
'''Business Rules!''', also known as '''BR''' is a derivative of ANSI Basic similar to that used on IBM mid-frame computers. It is a highly readable '''cross-platform''' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language Programming Language] used by procedural programmers to build applications in a top-down building block structure. 

In the modern world there are three general types of programming languages:
* Procedural -  Where program control flow is the primary focus while the code creates, processes and destroys representations of external reality.
* Non-Procedural - Where various elements are defined with snippets of code attached to events which are triggered by either users or programs.
* Object Oriented - Which is a blend of the preceding types with predefined rules for creating and deleting representations of external reality, and program defined methods of accessing them. This language structure was introduced to the programming world as C++, and has become the predominate programming language model. 

The advent of the World Wide Web introduced the widespread acceptance of the connectionless client/server model, with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunneling_protocol tunneled methods] of achieving connection persistence. This technique was implemented by the Microsoft Dot Net programming languages. Another concept implemented by both Dot Net and Java was the use of a compiled pseudo-code executable which is made portable by providing execution engines for each platform.

====RESTful Characteristics====
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer Representational State Transfer] (REST) is a style of software architecture for distributed systems such as the World Wide Web and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loosely_coupled loosely coupled] application frameworks. Key goals of REST include:

* Scalability of component interactions
* Generality of interfaces
* Independent deployment of components
* Intermediary components to reduce latency, enforce security and encapsulate legacy systems

The strength of many programming languages lies in their ability to express immense amounts of processing control specifications in relatively few statements. This is achieved in object oriented languages by the concepts of inheritance and overloading. While these concepts work well for creating and using tool sets where all users learn the tools as an extension of the underlying language, ''a pervasive problem associated with them is that in an application framework it is necessary for users of objects to be aware of processing details of the objects they inherit from''. While, this works quite well for tool sets, it doesn't work so well where 1) large sets of programs are shared among many programmers, 2) where programs are part of a networked set of applications, and 3) where a large set of programs must be modified by someone who is not very familiar with them. 

RESTful systems insulate nodes from the requirement of knowing processing details within other nodes.

====BR Characteristics====
Business Rules! is a procedural language that conforms to REST principles. Its unique set of rules for utilizing libraries to create program building blocks, along with its general readability, position it well for both beginning programmers and large scale projects. 

This language is being adopted by a growing number of young programmers due to it's ability to quickly develop procedural programs that include:

* powerful [[string]] and [[array]] manipulation
* character position oriented window, field and report specifications
* [[HTTP]] client emulation
* serial communications for industrial applications
* [[PDF]] printing with background forms
* support for both indexed flat file processing and [[SQL]] databases
* powerful built-in parsing functions for [[XML]] and [[CSV]] strings

and have it run in a framework with:
* a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Client-server_architecture client server architecture]
* a portable pseudo-code executable format
* dynamic interactive debugging
* uniquely readable building block program libraries
* performance profiling
* an HTTP server add-on with built-in JSON compilation and manipulation 

BR handles platform dependencies independently from code, so it is easy to maintain one set of programs for all supported platforms (Windows, Linux and MAC). In Business Rules!, objects are defined by [[Library Facility|libraries]] and the methods used to access them are [[user defined functions]]. 

The BR Programming Language is comprised of [[Environmental Settings]], [[Commands]], [[Variable|Variables]], [[Internal Functions|Functions]], [[Expression Logic]] and [[Program Statements]].  Programs are compiled into virtual code that is executed by a run-time executive. This supports a high degree of portability across platforms. The interactive nature of BR facilitates relatively easy debugging because you can change a program while it is running, as well as execute commands and statements from it's [[command console]].

Business Rules! strong commitment to providing [[backward compatibility]] options ensures that any investment in BR programs will be protected nearly indefinitely.  

See also: [[BR Wiki:Community Portal]]

== Getting Started ==

*BR [[Setup]]

*[[Getting Started]]