Skip to content

block.adoc

Latest commit

 

History

History
154 lines (103 loc) · 2.69 KB

block.adoc

File metadata and controls

154 lines (103 loc) · 2.69 KB
Raw

Block! datatype

Table of Contents

1. Abstract

Blocks are used to represent collections of data or code that can be evaluated at any point in time. They are a type of series! with no restriction on the type of values that can be referenced.

Values and expressions in a block are not evaluated by default:

>> my-block: [print reverse "Hello" 2 * 2 42]
== [print reverse "Hello" 2 * 2 42]

>> my-block
== [print reverse "Hello" 2 * 2 42]

The native! values do and reduce are used to trigger the evaluation of expressions in a block.

  • do evaluates a block and returns the result of the last expression:

>> do my-block
olleH
== 42

  • reduce returns a copy of a block, evaluating all expressions:

>> reduce my-block
olleH
== [unset 4 42]

Block! is a member of the following typesets: any-block!, any-list!, series!

2. Creation

Block values can be created using literal syntax, or at runtime using a make constructor or a to conversion.

3. Literal syntax

A collection of values delimited by opening and closing square brackets, separated by spaces.

[]

[one 2 "three"]

[print 1.23]

Blocks can extend over multiple lines, and can contain other blocks.

[one
2
"three"
]

[one 2 "three" [x foo 1.23]]

Extra lines, spaces, and tabs are allowed as long as they do not break up values.

Correct: [42 print "foo"]

Incorrect: [42 pr int "foo"]

4. Runtime creation

  • Make

    To create an empty block pre-allocated for 10 elements:

>> make block! 10
== []

To create a block of 10 elements with initial values set to none:

>> append/dup make block! 10 none 10
== [none none none none none none none none none none]

  • To

    >> to block! {one 2 "three" 4:00}
== [one 2 "three" 4:00:00]

>> to block! "foo 1.23 me@me.com"
== [foo 1.23 me@me.com]

>> to block! 42
== [42]

5. Accessing block elements

A block can be indexed with path notation, using integer values for 1-based indexing:

>> b: [12 [34 56]]
== [12 [34 56]]

>> b/1
== 12

>> b/2/2
== 56

A block (and any any-list! value for that matter) can also be treated as a key/value store; in such case the first occurence of value, supplied to path, will be searched, and the value that follows it will be returned.

>> b: [x 12 y [z 34]]
== [x 12 y [z 34]]

>> b/x
== 12

>> b/y
== [z 34]

>> b/y/z
== 34

6. Comparisons

All comparators can be applied on block!: =, ==, <>, >, <, >=, <=, =?. In addition, min, and max are also supported.

7. Testing values

Use block? to check if a value is of the block! datatype.

>> block? [42]
== true

Use type? to return the datatype of a given value.

>> type? [42]
== block!