Larry, my initial idea is not to worry too much the language. For the most part the design is more important IMO. I want to get a working 'algorithm'. Once I have this I could probably port it to any other 'language' if needs be. I suspect that I'm not going the real-time route initially - instead I'll store snapshots of positions in some database so a graphical interface could make use of if (Just an idea at the moment)
Your 'joking' about C- but a couple of years ago (probably 10+ year) at varsity I came across a language called C--. It was intended to be (as you wished) easier than C but more powefull than basic (or pascal then) What became of it I don't know since I've never heard about it again - and I don't have any copies of it anymore. Was cool back then on my 386 machine with 1MB RAM with 40/80MB hard disks!
Rudolf
