ABSTRACT
This chapter considers examples taken from within geographic information systems (GIS), and from other systems for geographical data manipulation and presentation, including the Generic Mapping Tools System. It shows that a new class of ‘script’-coupled spatial analysis tools may be easier to create than either to elaborate a range of loose-coupled programs, or to convince GIS-houses of the commercial wisdom of incorporating spatial analytical tools into their already overcomplex products. In artificial intelligence, attempts were directed to programming machines to infer, or ‘learn’ the scripts that human participants had internalised through socialisation, experience and training. While shell scripts can be very powerful mechanisms for controlling utilities and applications, experience has shown that the combination of such scripts with programmable utilities can be even more effective and efficient. Tool Command Language was designed as an embeddable command language offering uniform shell programming structures within applications, especially within a windowing environment.
