The ARC Macro Language (AML) is a proprietary high-level algorithmic language for generating applications in ArcInfo. It was designed by ESRI in 1986 specifically for their command line-driven ARC/INFO geographical information system. AML's syntax was based on CPL (the shell language of the PRIMOS operating system) because the majority of ARC/INFO installations at that time ran on Prime computers. The macro language features include the ability to create onscreen menus, use and assign variables, control statement execution, and get and use map or page unit coordinates.
Proprietary software, also known as "closed-source software", is non-free computer software for which the software's publisher or another person retains intellectual property rights—usually copyright of the source code, but sometimes patent rights.
In computer science, a high-level programming language is a programming language with strong abstraction from the details of the computer. In contrast to low-level programming languages, it may use natural language elements, be easier to use, or may automate significant areas of computing systems, making the process of developing a program simpler and more understandable than when using a lower-level language. The amount of abstraction provided defines how "high-level" a programming language is.
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an unambiguous specification of how to solve a class of problems. Algorithms can perform calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning tasks.
Although the language is still supported by ESRI in modern ArcInfo Workstation environments, the language has been superseded by the geoprocessing framework, which is part of the ArcGIS suite and allows programming access using ArcObjects through VBA or Python.
ArcInfo is a full-featured geographic information system produced by Esri, and is the highest level of licensing in the ArcGIS Desktop product line. It was originally a command-line based system. The command-line processing abilities are now available through the GUI of the ArcGIS Desktop product.
ArcGIS is a geographic information system (GIS) for working with maps and geographic information. It is used for creating and using maps, compiling geographic data, analyzing mapped information, sharing and discovering geographic information, using maps and geographic information in a range of applications, and managing geographic information in a database.
ArcObjects is a development environment of the ArcGIS family of applications. Using Visual Basic for Applications, C# or Java SDK for ArcGIS, it allows developers to extend these applications.
ArcObjects is a library of COM components that build up the foundation of the Esri's ArcGIS platform. ArcObjects is written mostly in the C++ programming language. All the ArcGIS for Desktop applications are based on ArcObjects. Since ArcGIS is completely built on top of ArcObjects, you can make use of COM services and capabilities to fully customize and extend the ArcGIS platform —meaning that extending the ArcObjects data model can be done easily and with virtually all COM-compatible programming languages. COM enables components to be reused at a binary level. In other words, developers do not require access to the source code of ArcObjects in order to extend the ArcGIS platform. For this reason, an ArcObjects programmer can make use of any type inside the ArcObjects system without knowing the implementation details of the type. The developer only needs to know what the type is able to do. Because ArcObjects is based on the COM standard, you can easily work with it in conjunction with other COM objects and applications . As previously mentioned, the ArcGIS platform was built using ArcObjects types. In the world of ArcObjects, classes use interfaces to organize properties and methods. Put simply, classes inside ArcObjects use only COM interfaces to expose their public members and communicate with each other. When working with an ArcObjects COM class, you never work with the properties and methods of the class; rather, you always access its properties and methods via one of its implemented interfaces. As an example, when you instantiate an object, you can only use one interface. However, after instantiation, you can query for any other interface that is implemented by that object. This process is sometimes called a Query Interface (QI). Classes in ArcObjects often have many interfaces.
