========================
Nimrod Tutorial (Part I)
========================
:Author: Andreas Rumpf
:Version: |nimrodversion|
.. contents::
Introduction
============
.. raw:: html
<blockquote><p>
"Der Mensch ist doch ein Augentier -- schöne Dinge wünsch ich mir."
</p></blockquote>
This document is a tutorial for the programming language *Nimrod*. After this
tutorial you will have a decent knowledge of Nimrod. This tutorial assumes
that you are familiar with basic programming concepts like variables, types
or statements.
The first program
=================
We start the tour with a modified "hello world" program:
.. code-block:: Nimrod
# This is a comment
Echo("What's your name? ")
var name: string = readLine(stdin)
Echo("Hi, ", name, "!")
Save this code to the file "greetings.nim". Now compile and run it::
nimrod compile --run greetings.nim
With the ``--run`` switch Nimrod executes the file automatically
after compilation. You can give your program command line arguments by
appending them after the filename::
nimrod compile --run greetings.nim arg1 arg2
Commonly used commands and switches have abbreviations, so you can also use::
nimrod c -r greetings.nim
To compile a release version use::
nimrod c -d:release greetings.nim
By default the Nimrod compiler generates a large amount of runtime checks
aiming for your debugging pleasure. With ``-d:release`` these checks are
turned off and optimizations are turned on.
Though it should be pretty obvious what the program does, I will explain the
syntax: statements which are not indented are executed when the program
starts. Indentation is Nimrod's way of grouping statements. Indentation is
done with spaces only, tabulators are not allowed.
String literals are enclosed in double quotes. The ``var`` statement declares
a new variable named ``name`` of type ``string`` with the value that is
returned by the ``readline`` procedure. Since the compiler knows that
``readline`` returns a string, you can leave out the type in the declaration
(this is called `local type inference`:idx:). So this will work too:
.. code-block:: Nimrod
var name = readline(stdin)
Note that this is basically the only form of type inference that exists in
Nimrod: it is a good compromise between brevity and readability.
The "hello world" program contains several identifiers that are already
known to the compiler: ``echo``, ``readLine``, etc. These built-in items are
declared in the system_ module which is implicitly imported by any other
module.
Lexical elements
================
Let us look at Nimrod's lexical elements in more detail: like other
programming languages Nimrod consists of (string) literals, identifiers,
keywords, comments, operators, and other punctuation marks. Case is
*insignificant* in Nimrod and even underscores are ignored:
``This_is_an_identifier`` and ``ThisIsAnIdentifier`` are the same identifier.
This feature enables you to use other
people's code without bothering about a naming convention that conflicts with
yours. It also frees you from remembering the exact spelling of an identifier
(was it ``parseURL`` or ``parseUrl`` or ``parse_URL``?).
String and character literals
-----------------------------
String literals are enclosed in double quotes; character literals in single
quotes. Special characters are escaped with ``\``: ``\n`` means newline, ``\t``
means tabulator, etc. There are also *raw* string literals:
.. code-block:: Nimrod
r"C:\program files\nim"
In raw literals the backslash is not an escape character.
The third and last way to write string literals are *long string literals*.
They are written with three quotes: ``""" ... """``; they can span over
multiple lines and the ``\`` is not an escape character either. They are very
useful for embedding HTML code templates for example.
Comments
--------
`Comments`:idx: start anywhere outside a string or character literal with the
hash character ``#``. Documentation comments start with ``##``.
Comments consist of a concatenation of `comment pieces`:idx:. A comment piece
starts with ``#`` and runs until the end of the line. The end of line characters
belong to the piece. If the next line only consists of a comment piece which is
aligned to the preceding one, it does not start a new comment:
.. code-block:: nimrod
i = 0 # This is a single comment over multiple lines belonging to the
# assignment statement. The scanner merges these two pieces.
# This is a new comment belonging to the current block, but to no particular
# statement.
i = i + 1 # This a new comment that is NOT
echo(i) # continued here, because this comment refers to the echo statement
Comments are tokens; they are only allowed at certain places in the input file
as they belong to the syntax tree! This feature enables perfect source-to-source
transformations (such as pretty-printing) and simpler documentation generators.
A nice side-effect is that the human reader of the code always knows exactly
which code snippet the comment refers to. Since comments are a proper part of
the syntax, watch their indentation:
.. code-block::
Echo("Hello!")
# comment has the same indentation as above statement -> fine
Echo("Hi!")
# comment has not the right indentation -> syntax error!
**Note**: To comment out a large piece of code, it is often better to use a
``when false:`` statement.
Numbers
-------
Numerical literals are written as in most other languages. As a special twist,
underscores are allowed for better readability: ``1_000_000`` (one million).
A number that contains a dot (or 'e' or 'E') is a floating point literal:
``1.0e9`` (one million). Hexadecimal literals are prefixed with ``0x``,
binary literals with ``0b`` and octal literals with ``0o``. A leading zero
alone does not produce an octal.
The var statement
=================
The var statement declares a new local or global variable:
.. code-block::
var x, y: int # declares x and y to have the type ``int``
Indentation can be used after the ``var`` keyword to list a whole section of
variables:
.. code-block::
var
x, y: int
# a comment can occur here too
a, b, c: string
The assignment statement
========================
The assignment statement assigns a new value to a variable or more generally
to a storage location:
.. code-block::
var x = "abc" # introduces a new variable `x` and assigns a value to it
x = "xyz" # assigns a new value to `x`
``=`` is the *assignment operator*. The assignment operator cannot
be overloaded, overwritten or forbidden, but this might change in a future
version of Nimrod.
Constants
=========
`Constants`:idx: are symbols which are bound to a value. The constant's value
cannot change. The compiler must be able to evaluate the expression in a
constant declaration at compile time:
.. code-block:: nimrod
const x = "abc" # the constant x contains the string "abc"
Indentation can be used after the ``const`` keyword to list a whole section of
constants:
.. code-block::
const
x = 1
# a comment can occur here too
y = 2
z = y + 5 # computations are possible
Control flow statements
=======================
The greetings program consists of 3 statements that are executed sequentially.
Only the most primitive programs can get away with that: branching and looping
are needed too.
If statement
------------
The if statement is one way to branch the control flow:
.. code-block:: nimrod
var name = readLine(stdin)
if name == "":
echo("Poor soul, you lost your name?")
elif name == "name":
echo("Very funny, your name is name.")
else:
Echo("Hi, ", name, "!")
There can be zero or more elif parts, and the else part is optional. The
keyword ``elif`` is short for ``else if``, and is useful to avoid excessive
indentation. (The ``""`` is the empty string. It contains no characters.)
Case statement
--------------
Another way to branch is provided by the case statement. A case statement is
a multi-branch:
.. code-block:: nimrod
var name = readLine(stdin)
case name
of "":
echo("Poor soul, you lost your name?")
of "name":
echo("Very funny, your name is name.")
of "Dave", "Frank":
echo("Cool name!")
else:
Echo("Hi, ", name, "!")
As it can be seen, for an ``of`` branch a comma separated list of values is also
allowed.
The case statement can deal with integers, other ordinal types and strings.
(What an ordinal type is will be explained soon.)
For integers or other ordinal types value ranges are also possible:
.. code-block:: nimrod
# this statement will be explained later:
from strutils import parseInt
Echo("A number please: ")
var n = parseInt(readLine(stdin))
case n
of 0..2, 4..7: Echo("The number is in the set: {0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7}")
of 3, 8: Echo("The number is 3 or 8")
However, the above code does not compile: the reason is that you have to cover
every value that ``n`` may contain, but the code only handles the values
``0..8``. Since it is not very practical to list every other possible integer
(though it is possible thanks to the range notation), we fix this by telling
the compiler that for every other value nothing should be done:
.. code-block:: nimrod
...
case n
of 0..2, 4..7: Echo("The number is in the set: {0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7}")
of 3, 8: Echo("The number is 3 or 8")
else: nil
The ``nil`` statement is a *do nothing* statement. The compiler knows that a
case statement with an else part cannot fail and thus the error disappears. Note
that it is impossible to cover all possible string values: that is why there is
no such check for string cases.
In general the case statement is used for subrange types or enumerations where
it is of great help that the compiler checks that you covered any possible
value.
While statement
---------------
The while statement is a simple looping construct:
.. code-block:: nimrod
Echo("What's your name? ")
var name = readLine(stdin)
while name == "":
Echo("Please tell me your name: ")
name = readLine(stdin)
# no ``var``, because we do not declare a new variable here
The example uses a while loop to keep asking the user for his name, as long as
he types in nothing (only presses RETURN).
For statement
-------------
The `for`:idx: statement is a construct to loop over any element an *iterator*
provides. The example uses the built-in ``countup`` iterator:
.. code-block:: nimrod
Echo("Counting to ten: ")
for i in countup(1, 10):
Echo($i)
The built-in ``$`` operator turns an integer (``int``) and many other types
into a string. The variable ``i`` is implicitly declared by the ``for`` loop
and has the type ``int``, because that is what ``countup`` returns. ``i`` runs
through the values 1, 2, .., 10. Each value is ``echo``-ed. This code does
the same:
.. code-block:: nimrod
Echo("Counting to 10: ")
var i = 1
while i <= 10:
Echo($i)
inc(i) # increment i by 1
Counting down can be achieved as easily (but is less often needed):
.. code-block:: nimrod
Echo("Counting down from 10 to 1: ")
for i in countdown(10, 1):
Echo($i)
Since counting up occurs so often in programs, Nimrod has a special syntax that
calls the ``countup`` iterator implicitly:
.. code-block:: nimrod
for i in 1..10:
...
The syntax ``for i in 1..10`` is sugar for ``for i in countup(1, 10)``.
``countdown`` does not have any such sugar.
Scopes and the block statement
------------------------------
Control flow statements have a feature not covered yet: they open a
new scope. This means that in the following example, ``x`` is not accessible
outside the loop:
.. code-block:: nimrod
while false:
var x = "hi"
echo(x) # does not work
A while (for) statement introduces an implicit block. Identifiers
are only visible within the block they have been declared. The ``block``
statement can be used to open a new block explicitly:
.. code-block:: nimrod
block myblock:
var x = "hi"
echo(x) # does not work either
The block's `label` (``myblock`` in the example) is optional.
Break statement
---------------
A block can be left prematurely with a ``break`` statement. The break statement
can leave a while, for, or a block statement. It leaves the innermost construct,
unless a label of a block is given:
.. code-block:: nimrod
block myblock:
Echo("entering block")
while true:
Echo("looping")
break # leaves the loop, but not the block
Echo("still in block")
block myblock2:
Echo("entering block")
while true:
Echo("looping")
break myblock2 # leaves the block (and the loop)
Echo("still in block")
Continue statement
------------------
Like in many other programming languages, a ``continue`` statement starts
the next iteration immediately:
.. code-block:: nimrod
while true:
var x = readLine(stdin)
if x == "": continue
Echo(x)
When statement
--------------
Example:
.. code-block:: nimrod
when system.hostOS == "windows":
echo("running on Windows!")
elif system.hostOS == "linux":
echo("running on Linux!")
elif system.hostOS == "macosx":
echo("running on Mac OS X!")
else:
echo("unknown operating system")
The `when`:idx: statement is almost identical to the ``if`` statement with some
differences:
* Each condition has to be a constant expression since it is evaluated by the
compiler.
* The statements within a branch do not open a new scope.
* The compiler checks the semantics and produces code *only* for the statements
that belong to the first condition that evaluates to ``true``.
The ``when`` statement is useful for writing platform specific code, similar to
the ``#ifdef`` construct in the C programming language.
**Note**: The documentation generator currently always follows the first branch
of when statements.
**Note**: To comment out a large piece of code, it is often better to use a
``when false:`` statement than to use real comments. This way nesting is
possible.
Statements and indentation
==========================
Now that we covered the basic control flow statements, let's return to Nimrod
indentation rules.
In Nimrod there is a distinction between *simple statements* and *complex
statements*. *Simple statements* cannot contain other statements:
Assignment, procedure calls or the ``return`` statement belong to the simple
statements. *Complex statements* like ``if``, ``when``, ``for``, ``while`` can
contain other statements. To avoid ambiguities, complex statements always have
to be indented, but single simple statements do not:
.. code-block:: nimrod
# no indentation needed for single assignment statement:
if x: x = false
# indentation needed for nested if statement:
if x:
if y:
y = false
else:
y = true
# indentation needed, because two statements follow the condition:
if x:
x = false
y = false
*Expressions* are parts of a statement which usually result in a value. The
condition in an if statement is an example for an expression. Expressions can
contain indentation at certain places for better readability:
.. code-block:: nimrod
if thisIsaLongCondition() and
thisIsAnotherLongCondition(1,
2, 3, 4):
x = true
As a rule of thumb, indentation within expressions is allowed after operators,
an open parenthesis and after commas.
Procedures
==========
To define new commands like ``echo``, ``readline`` in the examples, the concept
of a `procedure` is needed. (Some languages call them *methods* or
*functions*.) In Nimrod new procedures are defined with the ``proc`` keyword:
.. code-block:: nimrod
proc yes(question: string): bool =
Echo(question, " (y/n)")
while true:
case readLine(stdin)
of "y", "Y", "yes", "Yes": return true
of "n", "N", "no", "No": return false
else: Echo("Please be clear: yes or no")
if yes("Should I delete all your important files?"):
Echo("I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.")
else:
Echo("I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.")
This example shows a procedure named ``yes`` that asks the user a ``question``
and returns true if he answered "yes" (or something similar) and returns
false if he answered "no" (or something similar). A ``return`` statement leaves
the procedure (and therefore the while loop) immediately. The
``(question: string): bool`` syntax describes that the procedure expects a
parameter named ``question`` of type ``string`` and returns a value of type
``bool``. ``Bool`` is a built-in type: the only valid values for ``bool`` are
``true`` and ``false``.
The conditions in if or while statements should be of the type ``bool``.
Some terminology: in the example ``question`` is called a (formal) *parameter*,
``"Should I..."`` is called an *argument* that is passed to this parameter.
Result variable
---------------
A procedure that returns a value has an implicit ``result`` variable that
represents the return value. A ``return`` statement with no expression is a
shorthand for ``return result``. So all three code snippets are equivalent:
.. code-block:: nimrod
return 42
.. code-block:: nimrod
result = 42
return
.. code-block:: nimrod
result = 42
return result
Parameters
----------
Parameters are constant in the procedure body. Their value cannot be changed
because this allows the compiler to implement parameter passing in the most
efficient way. If the procedure needs to modify the argument for the
caller, a ``var`` parameter can be used:
.. code-block:: nimrod
proc divmod(a, b: int, res, remainder: var int) =
res = a div b
remainder = a mod b
var
x, y: int
divmod(8, 5, x, y) # modifies x and y
echo(x)
echo(y)
In the example, ``res`` and ``remainder`` are `var parameters`.
Var parameters can be modified by the procedure and the changes are
visible to the caller.
Discard statement
-----------------
To call a procedure that returns a value just for its side effects and ignoring
its return value, a discard statement **has** to be used. Nimrod does not
allow to silently throw away a return value:
.. code-block:: nimrod
discard yes("May I ask a pointless question?")
Named arguments
---------------
Often a procedure has many parameters and it is not clear in which order the
parameters appeared. This is especially true for procedures that construct a
complex data type. Therefore the arguments to a procedure can be named, so
that it is clear which argument belongs to which parameter:
.. code-block:: nimrod
proc createWindow(x, y, width, height: int, title: string,
show: bool): Window =
...
var w = createWindow(show = true, title = "My Application",
x = 0, y = 0, height = 600, width = 800)
Now that we use named arguments to call ``createWindow`` the argument order
does not matter anymore. Mixing named arguments with ordered arguments is
also possible, but not very readable:
.. code-block:: nimrod
var w = createWindow(0, 0, title = "My Application",
height = 600, width = 800, true)
The compiler checks that each parameter receives exactly one argument.
Default values
--------------
To make the ``createWindow`` proc easier to use it should provide `default
values`, these are values that are used as arguments if the caller does not
specify them:
.. code-block:: nimrod
proc createWindow(x = 0, y = 0, width = 500, height = 700,
title = "unknown",
show = true): Window =
...
var w = createWindow(title = "My Application", height = 600, width = 800)
Now the call to ``createWindow`` only needs to set the values that differ
from the defaults.
Note that type inference works for parameters with default values; there is
no need to write ``title: string = "unknown"``, for example.
Overloaded procedures
---------------------
Nimrod provides the ability to overload procedures similar to C++:
.. code-block:: nimrod
proc toString(x: int): string = ...
proc toString(x: bool): string =
if x: return "true"
else: return "false"
Echo(toString(13)) # calls the toString(x: int) proc
Echo(toString(true)) # calls the toString(x: bool) proc
(Note that ``toString`` is usually the ``$`` operator in Nimrod.)
The compiler chooses the most appropriate proc for the ``toString`` calls. How
this overloading resolution algorithm works exactly is not discussed here
(it will be specified in the manual soon).
However, it does not lead to nasty surprises and is based on a quite simple
unification algorithm. Ambiguous calls are reported as errors.
Operators
---------
The Nimrod library makes heavy use of overloading - one reason for this is that
each operator like ``+`` is a just an overloaded proc. The parser lets you
use operators in `infix notation` (``a + b``) or `prefix notation` (``+ a``).
An infix operator always receives two arguments, a prefix operator always one.
Postfix operators are not possible, because this would be ambiguous: does
``a @ @ b`` mean ``(a) @ (@b)`` or ``(a@) @ (b)``? It always means
``(a) @ (@b)``, because there are no postfix operators in Nimrod.
Apart from a few built-in keyword operators such as ``and``, ``or``, ``not``,
operators always consist of these characters:
``+ - * \ / < > = @ $ ~ & % ! ? ^ . |``
User defined operators are allowed. Nothing stops you from defining your own
``@!?+~`` operator, but readability can suffer.
The operator's precedence is determined by its first character. The details
can be found in the manual.
To define a new operator enclose the operator in "``":
.. code-block:: nimrod
proc `$` (x: myDataType): string = ...
# now the $ operator also works with myDataType, overloading resolution
# ensures that $ works for built-in types just like before
The "``" notation can also be used to call an operator just like a procedure
with a real name:
.. code-block:: nimrod
if `==`( `+`(3, 4), 7): Echo("True")
Forward declarations
--------------------
Every variable, procedure, etc. needs to be declared before it can be used.
(The reason for this is compilation efficiency.)
However, this cannot be done for mutually recursive procedures:
.. code-block:: nimrod
# forward declaration:
proc even(n: int): bool
proc odd(n: int): bool =
if n == 1: return true
else: return even(n-1)
proc even(n: int): bool =
if n == 0: return true
else: return odd(n-1)
Here ``odd`` depends on ``even`` and vice versa. Thus ``even`` needs to be
introduced to the compiler before it is completely defined. The syntax for
such a `forward declaration` is simple: just omit the ``=`` and the procedure's
body.
Iterators
=========
Let's return to the boring counting example:
.. code-block:: nimrod
Echo("Counting to ten: ")
for i in countup(1, 10):
Echo($i)
Can a ``countup`` proc be written that supports this loop? Lets try:
.. code-block:: nimrod
proc countup(a, b: int): int =
var res = a
while res <= b:
return res
inc(res)
However, this does not work. The problem is that the procedure should not
only ``return``, but return and **continue** after an iteration has
finished. This *return and continue* is called a `yield` statement. Now
the only thing left to do is to replace the ``proc`` keyword by ``iterator``
and there it is - our first iterator:
.. code-block:: nimrod
iterator countup(a, b: int): int =
var res = a
while res <= b:
yield res
inc(res)
Iterators look very similar to procedures, but there are several
important differences:
* Iterators can only be called from for loops.
* Iterators cannot contain a ``return`` statement and procs cannot contain a
``yield`` statement.
* Iterators have no implicit ``result`` variable.
* Iterators do not support recursion. (This restriction will be gone in a
future version of the compiler.)
* Iterators cannot be forward declared, because the compiler must be able
to inline an iterator. (This restriction will be gone in a
future version of the compiler.)
Basic types
===========
This section deals with the basic built-in types and the operations
that are available for them in detail.
Booleans
--------
The `boolean`:idx: type is named ``bool`` in Nimrod and consists of the two
pre-defined values ``true`` and ``false``. Conditions in while,
if, elif, when statements need to be of type bool.
The operators ``not, and, or, xor, <, <=, >, >=, !=, ==`` are defined
for the bool type. The ``and`` and ``or`` operators perform short-cut
evaluation. Example:
.. code-block:: nimrod
while p != nil and p.name != "xyz":
# p.name is not evaluated if p == nil
p = p.next
Characters
----------
The `character type` is named ``char`` in Nimrod. Its size is one byte.
Thus it cannot represent an UTF-8 character, but a part of it.
The reason for this is efficiency: for the overwhelming majority of use-cases,
the resulting programs will still handle UTF-8 properly as UTF-8 was specially
designed for this.
Character literals are enclosed in single quotes.
Chars can be compared with the ``==``, ``<``, ``<=``, ``>``, ``>=`` operators.
The ``$`` operator converts a ``char`` to a ``string``. Chars cannot be mixed
with integers; to get the ordinal value of a ``char`` use the ``ord`` proc.
Converting from an integer to a ``char`` is done with the ``chr`` proc.
Strings
-------
String variables in Nimrod are **mutable**, so appending to a string
is quite efficient. Strings in Nimrod are both zero-terminated and have a
length field. One can retrieve a string's length with the builtin ``len``
procedure; the length never counts the terminating zero. Accessing the
terminating zero is no error and often leads to simpler code:
.. code-block:: nimrod
if s[i] == 'a' and s[i+1] == 'b' and s[i+2] == '\0':
# no need to check whether ``i < len(s)``!
...
The assignment operator for strings copies the string. You can use the ``&``
operator to concatenate strings.
Strings are compared by their lexicographical order. All comparison operators
are available. Per convention, all strings are UTF-8 strings, but this is not
enforced. For example, when reading strings from binary files, they are merely
a sequence of bytes. The index operation ``s[i]`` means the i-th *char* of
``s``, not the i-th *unichar*.
String variables are initialized with a special value, called ``nil``. However,
most string operations cannot deal with ``nil`` (leading to an exception being
raised) for performance reasons. One should use empty strings ``""``
rather than ``nil`` as the *empty* value. But ``""`` often creates a string
object on the heap, so there is a trade-off to be made here.
Integers
--------
Nimrod has these integer types built-in: ``int int8 int16 int32 int64``. These
are all signed integer types, there are no `unsigned integer`:idx: types, only
`unsigned operations`:idx: that treat their arguments as unsigned.
The default integer type is ``int``. Integer literals can have a *type suffix*
to mark them to be of another integer type:
.. code-block:: nimrod
var
x = 0 # x is of type ``int``
y = 0'i8 # y is of type ``int8``
z = 0'i64 # z is of type ``int64``
Most often integers are used for counting objects that reside in memory, so
``int`` has the same size as a pointer.
The common operators ``+ - * div mod < <= == != > >=`` are defined for
integers. The ``and or xor not`` operators are defined for integers too and
provide *bitwise* operations. Left bit shifting is done with the ``shl``, right
shifting with the ``shr`` operator. Bit shifting operators always treat their
arguments as *unsigned*. For `arithmetic bit shifts`:idx: ordinary
multiplication or division can be used.
Unsigned operations all wrap around; they cannot lead to over- or underflow
errors. Unsigned operations use the ``%`` suffix as convention:
====================== ======================================================
operation meaning
====================== ======================================================
``a +% b`` unsigned integer addition
``a -% b`` unsigned integer subtraction
``a *% b`` unsigned integer multiplication
``a /% b`` unsigned integer division
``a %% b`` unsigned integer modulo operation
``a <% b`` treat ``a`` and ``b`` as unsigned and compare
``a <=% b`` treat ``a`` and ``b`` as unsigned and compare
====================== ======================================================
`Automatic type conversion`:idx: is performed in expressions where different
kinds of integer types are used. However, if the type conversion
loses information, the `EOutOfRange`:idx: exception is raised (if the error
cannot be detected at compile time).
Floats
------
Nimrod has these floating point types built-in: ``float float32 float64``.
The default float type is ``float``. In the current implementation,
``float`` is always 64 bit wide.
Float literals can have a *type suffix* to mark them to be of another float
type:
.. code-block:: nimrod
var
x = 0.0 # x is of type ``float``
y = 0.0'f32 # y is of type ``float32``
z = 0.0'f64 # z is of type ``float64``
The common operators ``+ - * / < <= == != > >=`` are defined for
floats and follow the IEEE standard.
Automatic type conversion in expressions with different kinds
of floating point types is performed: the smaller type is
converted to the larger. Integer types are **not** converted to floating point
types automatically and vice versa. The ``toInt`` and ``toFloat`` procs can be
used for these conversions.
Advanced types
==============
In Nimrod new types can be defined within a ``type`` statement:
.. code-block:: nimrod
type
biggestInt = int64 # biggest integer type that is available
biggestFloat = float64 # biggest float type that is available
Enumeration and object types cannot be defined on the fly, but only within a
``type`` statement.
Enumerations
------------
A variable of an `enumeration`:idx: type can only be assigned a value of a
limited set. This set consists of ordered symbols. Each symbol is mapped
to an integer value internally. The first symbol is represented
at runtime by 0, the second by 1 and so on. Example:
.. code-block:: nimrod
type
TDirection = enum
north, east, south, west
var x = south # `x` is of type `TDirection`; its value is `south`
echo($x) # writes "south" to `stdout`
(To prefix a new type with the letter ``T`` is a convention in Nimrod.)
All comparison operators can be used with enumeration types.
An enumeration's symbol can be qualified to avoid ambiguities:
``TDirection.south``.
The ``$`` operator can convert any enumeration value to its name, the ``ord``
proc to its underlying integer value.
For better interfacing to other programming languages, the symbols of enum
types can be assigned an explicit ordinal value. However, the ordinal values
have to be in ascending order. A symbol whose ordinal value is not
explicitly given is assigned the value of the previous symbol + 1.
An explicit ordered enum can have *holes*:
.. code-block:: nimrod
type
TMyEnum = enum
a = 2, b = 4, c = 89
Ordinal types
-------------
Enumerations without holes, integer types, ``char`` and ``bool`` (and
subranges) are called `ordinal`:idx: types. Ordinal types have quite
a few special operations:
----------------- --------------------------------------------------------
Operation Comment
----------------- --------------------------------------------------------
``ord(x)`` returns the integer value that is used to
represent `x`'s value
``inc(x)`` increments `x` by one
``inc(x, n)`` increments `x` by `n`; `n` is an integer
``dec(x)`` decrements `x` by one
``dec(x, n)`` decrements `x` by `n`; `n` is an integer
``succ(x)`` returns the successor of `x`
``succ(x, n)`` returns the `n`'th successor of `x`
``prec(x)`` returns the predecessor of `x`
``pred(x, n)`` returns the `n`'th predecessor of `x`
----------------- --------------------------------------------------------
The ``inc dec succ pred`` operations can fail by raising an `EOutOfRange` or
`EOverflow` exception. (If the code has been compiled with the proper runtime
checks turned on.)
Subranges
---------
A `subrange`:idx: type is a range of values from an integer or enumeration type
(the base type). Example:
.. code-block:: nimrod
type
TSubrange = range[0..5]
``TSubrange`` is a subrange of ``int`` which can only hold the values 0
to 5. Assigning any other value to a variable of type ``TSubrange`` is a
compile-time or runtime error. Assignments from the base type to one of its
subrange types (and vice versa) are allowed.
The ``system`` module defines the important ``natural`` type as
``range[0..high(int)]`` (``high`` returns the maximal value). Other programming
languages mandate the usage of unsigned integers for natural numbers. This is
often **wrong**: you don't want unsigned arithmetic (which wraps around) just
because the numbers cannot be negative. Nimrod's ``natural`` type helps to
avoid this common programming error.
Sets
----
The `set type`:idx: models the mathematical notion of a set. The set's
basetype can only be an ordinal type. The reason is that sets are implemented
as high performance bit vectors.
Sets can be constructed via the set constructor: ``{}`` is the empty set. The
empty set is type compatible with any concrete set type. The constructor
can also be used to include elements (and ranges of elements):
.. code-block:: nimrod
type
TCharSet = set[char]
var
x: TCharSet
x = {'a'..'z', '0'..'9'} # This constructs a set that conains the
# letters from 'a' to 'z' and the digits
# from '0' to '9'
These operations are supported by sets:
================== ========================================================
operation meaning
================== ========================================================
``A + B`` union of two sets
``A * B`` intersection of two sets
``A - B`` difference of two sets (A without B's elements)
``A == B`` set equality
``A <= B`` subset relation (A is subset of B or equal to B)
``A < B`` strong subset relation (A is a real subset of B)
``e in A`` set membership (A contains element e)
``e notin A`` A does not contain element e
``contains(A, e)`` A contains element e
``A -+- B`` symmetric set difference (= (A - B) + (B - A))
``card(A)`` the cardinality of A (number of elements in A)
``incl(A, elem)`` same as ``A = A + {elem}``
``excl(A, elem)`` same as ``A = A - {elem}``
================== ========================================================
Sets are often used to define a type for the *flags* of a procedure. This is
a much cleaner (and type safe) solution than just defining integer
constants that should be ``or``'ed together.
Arrays
------
An `array`:idx: is a simple fixed length container. Each element in
the array has the same type. The array's index type can be any ordinal type.
Arrays can be constructed via ``[]``:
.. code-block:: nimrod
type
TIntArray = array[0..5, int] # an array that is indexed with 0..5
var
x: TIntArray
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
for i in low(x)..high(x):
echo(x[i])
The notation ``x[i]`` is used to access the i-th element of ``x``.
Array access is always bounds checked (at compile-time or at runtime). These
checks can be disabled via pragmas or invoking the compiler with the
``--bound_checks:off`` command line switch.
Arrays are value types, like any other Nimrod type. The assignment operator
copies the whole array contents.
The built-in ``len`` proc returns the array's length. ``low(a)`` returns the
lowest valid index for the array `a` and ``high(a)`` the highest valid index.
Sequences
---------
`Sequences`:idx: are similar to arrays but of dynamic length which may change
during runtime (like strings). Since sequences are resizeable they are always
allocated on the heap and garbage collected.
Sequences are always indexed with an ``int`` starting at position 0.
The ``len``, ``low`` and ``high`` operations are available for sequences too.
The notation ``x[i]`` can be used to access the i-th element of ``x``.
Sequences can be constructed by the array constructor ``[]`` in conjunction
with the array to sequence operator ``@``. Another way to allocate space for
a sequence is to call the built-in ``newSeq`` procedure.
A sequence may be passed to an openarray parameter.
Example:
.. code-block:: nimrod
var
x: seq[int] # a sequence of integers
x = @[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] # the @ turns the array into a sequence
Sequence variables are initialized with ``nil``. However, most sequence
operations cannot deal with ``nil`` (leading to an exception being
raised) for performance reasons. Thus one should use empty sequences ``@[]``
rather than ``nil`` as the *empty* value. But ``@[]`` creates a sequence
object on the heap, so there is a trade-off to be made here.
Open arrays
-----------
**Note**: Openarrays can only be used for parameters.
Often fixed size arrays turn out to be too inflexible; procedures should
be able to deal with arrays of different sizes. The `openarray`:idx: type
allows this. Openarrays are always indexed with an ``int`` starting at
position 0. The ``len``, ``low`` and ``high`` operations are available
for open arrays too. Any array with a compatible base type can be passed to
an openarray parameter, the index type does not matter.
The openarray type cannot be nested: multidimensional openarrays are not
supported because this is seldom needed and cannot be done efficiently.
An openarray is also a means to implement passing a variable number of
arguments to a procedure. The compiler converts the list of arguments
to an array automatically:
.. code-block:: nimrod
proc myWriteln(f: TFile, a: openarray[string]) =
for s in items(a):
write(f, s)
write(f, "\n")
myWriteln(stdout, "abc", "def", "xyz")
# is transformed by the compiler to:
myWriteln(stdout, ["abc", "def", "xyz"])
This transformation is only done if the openarray parameter is the
last parameter in the procedure header.
Tuples
------
A tuple type defines various named *fields* and an *order* of the fields.
The constructor ``()`` can be used to construct tuples. The order of the
fields in the constructor must match the order in the tuple's definition.
Different tuple-types are *equivalent* if they specify the same fields of
the same type in the same order.
The assignment operator for tuples copies each component. The notation
``t.field`` is used to access a tuple's field. Another notation is
``t[i]`` to access the ``i``'th field. Here ``i`` needs to be a constant
integer.
.. code-block:: nimrod
type
TPerson = tuple[name: string, age: int] # type representing a person:
# a person consists of a name
# and an age
var
person: TPerson
person = (name: "Peter", age: 30)
# the same, but less readable:
person = ("Peter", 30)
echo(person.name) # "Peter"
echo(person.age) # 30
echo(person[0]) # "Peter"
echo(person[1]) # 30
Reference and pointer types
---------------------------
References (similar to `pointers`:idx: in other programming languages) are a
way to introduce many-to-one relationships. This means different references can
point to and modify the same location in memory.
Nimrod distinguishes between `traced`:idx: and `untraced`:idx: references.
Untraced references are also called *pointers*. Traced references point to
objects of a garbage collected heap, untraced references point to
manually allocated objects or to objects somewhere else in memory. Thus
untraced references are *unsafe*. However for certain low-level operations
(accessing the hardware) untraced references are unavoidable.
Traced references are declared with the **ref** keyword, untraced references
are declared with the **ptr** keyword.
The empty ``[]`` subscript notation can be used to *derefer* a reference,
meaning to retrieve the item the reference points to. The ``addr`` procedure
returns the address of an item. An address is always an untraced reference:
``addr`` is an *unsafe* feature.
The ``.`` (access a tuple/object field operator)
and ``[]`` (array/string/sequence index operator) operators perform implicit
dereferencing operations for reference types:
.. code-block:: nimrod
type
PNode = ref TNode
TNode = tuple[le, ri: PNode, data: int]
var
n: PNode
new(n)
n.data = 9
# no need to write n[].data; in fact n[].data is highly discouraged!
(As a convention, reference types use a 'P' prefix.)
To allocate a new traced object, the built-in procedure ``new`` has to be used.
To deal with untraced memory, the procedures ``alloc``, ``dealloc`` and
``realloc`` can be used. The documentation of the system module contains
further information.
If a reference points to *nothing*, it has the value ``nil``.
Procedural type
---------------
A `procedural type`:idx: is a (somewhat abstract) pointer to a procedure.
``nil`` is an allowed value for a variable of a procedural type.
Nimrod uses procedural types to achieve `functional`:idx: programming
techniques.
Example:
.. code-block:: nimrod
type
TCallback = proc (x: int)
proc echoItem(x: Int) = echo(x)
proc forEach(callback: TCallback) =
const
data = [2, 3, 5, 7, 11]
for d in items(data):
callback(d)
forEach(echoItem)
A subtle issue with procedural types is that the calling convention of the
procedure influences the type compatibility: procedural types are only compatible
if they have the same calling convention. The different calling conventions are
listed in the `user guide <nimrodc.html>`_.
Modules
=======
Nimrod supports splitting a program into pieces with a `module`:idx: concept.
Each module is in its own file. Modules enable `information hiding`:idx: and
`separate compilation`:idx:. A module may gain access to symbols of another
module by the `import`:idx: statement. Only top-level symbols that are marked
with an asterisk (``*``) are exported:
.. code-block:: nimrod
# Module A
var
x*, y: int
proc `*` *(a, b: seq[int]): seq[int] =
# allocate a new sequence:
newSeq(result, len(a))
# multiply two int sequences:
for i in 0..len(a)-1: result[i] = a[i] * b[i]
when isMainModule:
# test the new ``*`` operator for sequences:
assert(@[1, 2, 3] * @[1, 2, 3] == @[1, 4, 9])
The above module exports ``x`` and ``*``, but not ``y``.
The top-level statements of a module are executed at the start of the program.
This can be used to initialize complex data structures for example.
Each module has a special magic constant ``isMainModule`` that is true if the
module is compiled as the main file. This is very useful to embed tests within
the module as shown by the above example.
Modules that depend on each other are possible, but strongly discouraged,
because then one module cannot be reused without the other.
The algorithm for compiling modules is:
- Compile the whole module as usual, following import statements recursively.
- If there is a cycle only import the already parsed symbols (that are
exported); if an unknown identifier occurs then abort.
This is best illustrated by an example:
.. code-block:: nimrod
# Module A
type
T1* = int # Module A exports the type ``T1``
import B # the compiler starts parsing B
proc main() =
var i = p(3) # works because B has been parsed completely here
main()
.. code-block:: nimrod
# Module B
import A # A is not parsed here! Only the already known symbols
# of A are imported.
proc p*(x: A.T1): A.T1 =
# this works because the compiler has already
# added T1 to A's interface symbol table
return x + 1
A symbol of a module *can* be *qualified* with the ``module.symbol`` syntax. If
the symbol is ambiguous, it even *has* to be qualified. A symbol is ambiguous
if it is defined in two (or more) different modules and both modules are
imported by a third one:
.. code-block:: nimrod
# Module A
var x*: string
.. code-block:: nimrod
# Module B
var x*: int
.. code-block:: nimrod
# Module C
import A, B
write(stdout, x) # error: x is ambiguous
write(stdout, A.x) # no error: qualifier used
var x = 4
write(stdout, x) # not ambiguous: uses the module C's x
But this rule does not apply to procedures or iterators. Here the overloading
rules apply:
.. code-block:: nimrod
# Module A
proc x*(a: int): string = return $a
.. code-block:: nimrod
# Module B
proc x*(a: string): string = return $a
.. code-block:: nimrod
# Module C
import A, B
write(stdout, x(3)) # no error: A.x is called
write(stdout, x("")) # no error: B.x is called
proc x*(a: int): string = nil
write(stdout, x(3)) # ambiguous: which `x` is to call?
From statement
--------------
We have already seen the simple ``import`` statement that just imports all
exported symbols. An alternative that only imports listed symbols is the
``from import`` statement:
.. code-block:: nimrod
from mymodule import x, y, z
Include statement
-----------------
The `include`:idx: statement does something fundametally different than
importing a module: it merely includes the contents of a file. The ``include``
statement is useful to split up a large module into several files:
.. code-block:: nimrod
include fileA, fileB, fileC
**Note**: The documentation generator currently does not follow ``include``
statements, so exported symbols in an include file will not show up in the
generated documentation.
Part 2
======
So, now that we are done with the basics, let's see what Nimrod offers apart
from a nice syntax for procedural programming: `Part II <tut2.html>`_
.. _strutils: strutils.html
.. _system: system.html