Built-in functions

Every variable or constant (simple or complex) has built-in functions. They can be accessed like any other function even on a literal. Every built-in function can be overriden.

nameof

nameof returns the name of a variable as a string. It can be used both with and without a parameter.

With parameter

Example

var a = 42
nameof(a) //returns 'a'; the nameof function of the `this` scope is called

Without parameter

Example

with console from std:io
console.nameof() //returns 'console'

type

type returns the type of an object as an atom.

Example

var a = 42
var b = "Hello world"
var c = true

a.type() //returns :int
b.type() //returns :string
c.type() //returns :bool
:ok.type() //returns :atom

equals

equals compares two values and returns true if they're equal and false if they're not.

Example

with list from std:collections

1.equals(2) //returns false
"Hello".equals("Hello") //returns true

var foo = list.of({1,2,3,4,5})
foo.equals(list.of({1,2,3,4,5})) //returns true

hash

For complex types (except protos), hash serializes the variable into a JSON, MD5-hashes the JSON string and returns it. For simple types, the MD5-hash of the string representation of the value is returned.

Example

var jd = User("John", "Doe")

jd.hash() //returns the MD5 of the JSONified User object

"Hello".hash() //returns the MD5 hash of "Hello"

9000.hash() //returns the MD5 hash of "9000"

toString

toString returns the string representation of any variable or literal. Objects or structs are serialized into JSON while simple types are just being converted to strings.

Example

with list from std:collections

list.of({1,2,3,4,5}).toString()
/*
returns:
[1,2,3,4,5]
*/

class Car
    @public
        var name
        var models
    end
end

class Person
    let name string
    var age int
    var cars object::Car[]
end

Person("John",30,
{
    Car("Ford",{"Fiesta", "Focus", "Mustang"}),
    Car("Fiat",{"500", "Panda"})
}).toString()

/*
returns:
{
    "name":"John",
    "age":30,
    "cars": [
        { "name":"Ford", "models":[ "Fiesta", "Focus", "Mustang" ] },
        { "name":"Fiat", "models":[ "500", "Panda" ] }
    ]
 }
*/

send & self

send sends an object to the specified PID.

self returns the pid of the calling process.

Example

with msg from std:io

class Counter
    private var int counter
    
    func loop()
        receive(m)
            msg{state: :increment} => counter++
            msg{state: :get, data := sender} => send(sender, counter)       
        end
    end
    
    func Counter()
        counter = 0
    end
end

var ctr = spawn({_ => Counter().loop()})
send(ctr, msg(:increment))
send(ctr, msg(:increment))
send(ctr, msg(:increment))

send(ctr, msg(:get, self()))

receive(m)
    _ => console.out(m) //prints 3
end