The ARC Macro Language (AML) is a proprietary high-level algorithmic

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

for generating applications in ArcInfo. It was designed by

ESRI Esri (; Environmental Systems Research Institute) is an American multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company. It is best known for its ArcGIS products. With a 43% market share, Esri is the world's leading supplier of GIS ...

in 1986 specifically for their

command line A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...

-driven ARC/INFO geographical information system. AML's syntax was based on CPL (the shell language of the

PRIMOS PRIMOS is a discontinued operating system developed during the 1970s by Prime Computer for its minicomputer systems. It rapidly gained popularity and by the mid-1980s was a serious contender as a mainline minicomputer operating system. With ...

operating system) because the majority of ARC/INFO installations at that time ran on Prime computers. The

macro Macro (or MACRO) may refer to: Science and technology * Macroscopic, subjects visible to the eye * Macro photography, a type of close-up photography * Image macro, a picture with text superimposed * Monopole, Astrophysics and Cosmic Ray Observat ...

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. Although the language is still supported by ESRI in modern ArcInfo Workstation environments, the language has been superseded by the ''geoprocessing framework'', which is part of the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 ArcGIS is a family of client, server and online geographic information system (GIS) software developed and maintained by Esri. ArcGIS was first released in 1999 and originally was released as ARC/INFO, a command line based GIS system for mani ...

suite and allows programming access using ArcObjects through VBA or Python.

References

* ESRI, 1995. ''ARC Macro Language'', ESRI Press, 828 p.

External links

User submitted AML scripts at ESRI ArcScripts
{{cartography-stub Esri software GIS software Macro programming languages