path: root/examples/tutorial.nom

# One liner comments start with # and go till end of line
#.. Multi-line comments start with #.. and
    continue until dedent

# Import files like so:
run file "core.nom"

# Numbers:
23
4.5
#.. Since this language cross-compiles to lua, integers and floating point numbers are
    both represented using the same primitive.

# Strings:
"asdf"
".."|This is a multi-line string
    |that starts with ".." and includes each indented line that starts with a "|"
    |until the indentation ends

# Lists:
[1,2,3]
[..]
    "like multi-line strings, lists have an indented form", "that can use commas too"
    "or just newlines to separate items"
    5
    6,7,8

# Dicts:
dict [["x", 99], ["y", 101]]
dict [..]
    ["z", 222]
    [383, "howdy"]

# Function calls:
say "Hello world!"

# Function definition:
rule "say both %first and also %second":
    # Variables use the "%" sign:
    say %first
    say %second

rule "get x from %dict":
    #.. Functions can return values explicitly, but if not, the last line in the function
        is the return value.
    return (%dict's "x")

# Functions can have aliases, which may or may not have the arguments in different order
rule [..]
    "I hate %worse-things more than %better-things", "I think %worse-things are worse than %better-things"
    "I like %better-things more than %worse-things"
..:
    say ".."|\%better-things capitalized\ rule and \%worse-things\ drool!

I like "dogs" more than "cats"
I think "chihuahuas" are worse than "corgis"


#.. Function calls can have parts of the function's name spread throughout.
    Everything that's not a literal value is treated as part of the function's name
say both "Hello" and also "again!"

# Functions can even have their name at the end:
rule "%what-she-said is what she said":
    say %what-she-said
    say "-- she said"
"Howdy pardner" is what she said

#.. The language only reserves []{}().,:;% as special characters, so functions and variables
    can have really funky names!
rule ">> %foo-bar$$$^ --> %@@& _~-^-~_~-^ %1 !":
    say %foo-bar$$$^
    say %@@&
    say %1
>> "wow" --> "so flexible!" _~-^-~_~-^ "even numbers can be variables!" !
# Though literals can't be used in function names

# Math and logic operations are just treated the same as function calls in the syntax
say (2 + 3)
# So it's easy to define your own operators
rule "%a ++ %b": 2 * (%a + %b)
say (2 ++ 3)


#.. Code blocks start with ":" and either continue until the end of the line
    or are indented blocks

# One liner:
: say "hi"

# Block version:
:
    say "one"
    say "two"

#.. So the function definitions above are actually just passing a regular string, like
    "say both %first and also %second", and a code block to a function called "rule % %"
    that takes two arguments.

# Line continuations work by either ending a line with ".." and continuing with an indented block:
say..
    both "Tom" and
    also
    "Sawyer"

# Or by starting the next line with ".."
say both "Bruce"
..and also "Lee"

# This can be mixed and matched:
say both..
    "Rick"
..and also..
    "Moranis"

# And combined with the block forms of literals:
say both ".."
    |Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent,
    |a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that
    |"all men are created equal"
..and also..
    "-- Abraham Lincoln"

rule "my favorite number": return 23

# Subexpressions are wrapped in parentheses:
say (my favorite number)
# There's a multi-line indented block form for subexpressions too:
say (..)
    my favorite
    number

# Block strings can interpolate values by enclosing an expression in a pair of \s
say ".."|My favorite number is \my favorite number\!

say ".."
    |My favorite number is still \(..)
        my favorite
        number
    ..\, but this time it uses an indented subexpression!

#.. There's a few macros in the language for things like conditional branches and logic/math
    operations, but they can be thought of as basically the same as functions.
    There are no keywords in the language!
if (1 < 10):
    say "One is less than ten"
..else:
    say "One is not less than ten"

#.. Breakdown of the above:
    Function call (actually a macro) to "if % % else %" 
    First argument is a subexpression that is a function call (also a macro) to "% < %"
       that performs a comparison on its arguments, 1 and 10
    Second argument is a block of code that includes a function call to "say %", the "if" body 
    Third argument is a block of code that includes a different function call to "say %", the "else" body 

# Line continuations can be used for "elseif"
if (1 > 10):
    say "First condition"
..else: if (1 > 5):
    say "Second condition"
..else:
    say "Last condition"

# ^that's the same as: 
if (1 > 10):
    say "First condition"
..else:
    if (1 > 5):
        say "Second condition"
    ..else:
        say "Last condition"

# Variables are modified with a macro, "let % = %" 
let "numbers" = [5,6,7]

# Looping: 
say ".."|Looping over \%numbers\:
for "number" in %numbers:
    say (%number + 100)

rule "sing %starting-bottles bottles of beer":
    for "n" in (%starting-bottles down through 0):
        say ".."
            |\%n if (%n > 0) else "No more"\ \"bottle" if (%n == 1) else "bottles"\ of beer on the wall.
            |\"" if (%n == 0) else "    Take one down, pass it around..."\

sing 9 bottles of beer

#.. Note that because math and logic operations are just macros, they require a lot
    of parentheses to disambiguate. There's no PEMDAS.
say (5 + (4 * (- (1 + (6 + 2)))))
# For convenience, +,*,"and", and "or" have been hand defined to work with up to 4 operands: 
1 + 2 + 3 + 4
1 * 2 * 3 * 4
1 and 2 and 3 and 4
1 or 2 or 3 or 4
# Longer lists can use "sum of %", "product of %", "all of %", and "any of %", respectively, or lots of parentheses. 
sum of [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
product of [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
all of [1,1,1,1,0,1,1]
any of [0,0,0,0,1,0,0]
# And 3-operand chained inequality comparisons have been defined: 
1 < 2 <= 3


# Macros: 
# The "lua block %" and "lua expr %" macros can be used to write raw lua code: 
rule "say the time":
    lua block ".."
        |io.write("The OS time is: ")
        |io.write(tostring(os.time()).."\\n")
say the time
say ".."|Math expression result is: \lua expr "(1 + 2*3 + 3*4)^2"\

#.. In the lua environment, "vars" can be used to get local variables/function args, and
    "compiler" can be used to access the compiler, function defs, and other things
rule "square root of %n":
    return (lua expr "math.sqrt(vars.n)")
say ".."|The square root of 2 is \square root of 2\

# Macros can be defined as functions that take unprocessed syntax trees and return lua code 
# "macro block %" is for defining macros that produce blocks of code, not values 
macro block "unless %condition %body":
    ".."
        |if not (\%condition as lua expr\) then
        |    \(lua expr "vars.body.value.value") as lua block\
        |end

unless (1 > 10):
    say "Macros work!"
    say "It looks like a keyword, but there's no magic here!"

# and "macro %" is for defining macros that produce an expression 
macro "%value as a boolean":
    ".."|(not not (\%value as lua expr\))
macro "yep": "true"