Yerbacon/docs/gettingstarted.md

1 - Variables

Variables defined using #= can't be changed (they are "final"), while the ones affected using the normal operator (=) can.

helloworld #= "Hello, World!"

2 - (Anonymous) Functions

You can make an anonymous functions using the following syntax:

getHelloWorld: ~String => {
  return "Hello, World!"
}

The type (~String here) can be omitted, see #3.

Note that you can make getHelloWorld final by replacing => with #=>.

To define a named (and mandatorily final) function, replace => with >> and put the (optional) return type before the function's name:

String getHelloWorld >> {
  return "Hello, World!"
}

2.1 - Main

Main can be a variable named main that contains an anonymous function, a function named main or a function that has the as_main attribute:

main #=> {}
main >> {}
as_main helloWorld >> {}

2.2 - Function parameters

Parameters can be added to an anonymous function by specifying the types as follows:

addIntToString (int, String) => { a, b;
  println(b + a)
}

Named functions can have parameters (with mandatory names) like in this example:

addIntToString(a: Int, b: String) => {
  println(b + a)
}

2.3 - Function calls

A function can be simply invoked like this if it has no parameters:

helloWorld()

If a function does have parameters, you can call it with arguments in the right order; if the function is not anonymous, it's also possible to call it by using the names of the corresponding parameters:

addNumbers(int a, int b, int c, int d) >> {
  println(a + b + c + d)
}
addNumbers(1, 2, 3, 4) # Call without names
addNumbers(a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, d = 4) # Call with names
addNumbers(1, c = 3, b = 2, d = 4)

Note that println is the only function that will get transpiled to its equivalent.

3 - Types

Types are inferred, which means that specifying types of variables or returned values is optional.

^{Note: While primitives types (String, int, double, boolean, float) will be transpiled to their equivalents for the target of the transpiler, this is not the case for other types.}

Every variable has a static type by default; it is possible to make a non-final variable dynamic by adding the dyn/dynamic attribute:

dyn helloWorld = 0
helloWorld = "Hello, World!"

The attributes mentioned above can also be used as a return type for functions/anonymous functions:

helloWorld: ~dynamic => { return 0 }
dyn helloWorld >> { return 0 }

4 - Comments

You can add comments to your code; see the following examples showcasing the available syntaxes:

# This is a simple comment
// This is another comment
int # This is a compact comment, you can insert it pretty much anywhere # a = 1