Placeholder docs for optionals

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Bruce Hill 2024-09-11 15:12:00 -04:00
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# Optional Values
A very common use case is values that may or may not be present. You could
represent this case using enums like so:
```tomo
enum MaybeInt(AnInt(x:Int), NoInt)
func maybe_takes_int(maybe_x:MaybeInt):
when maybe_x is AnInt(x):
say("Got an int: $x")
else:
say("Got nothing")
```
However, it's overly onerous to have to define a separate type for each
situation where you might want to not have a value. Instead, Tomo has
built-in support for optional types:
```
func maybe_takes_int(x:Int?):
if x:
say("Got an int: $x")
else:
say("Got nothing")
```
This establishes a common language for talking about optional values without
having to use a more generalized form of `enum` which may have different naming
conventions and which would generate a lot of unnecessary code.