Names
A name starts with a letter or any non-Ascii char. After the first letter, there can be digits. Hyphens and underscores can be put inside a name. They’re considered separators; they can only be inside the name and cannot be put consecutively. All names are case-sensitive.
Keyword
A keyword is a name that always has a value. All keywords have aliases with an equivalent value.
| Keyword | One-letter alias | Other aliases |
|---|---|---|
null |
N |
Null, nil, Nil, none, None |
false |
F |
False |
true |
T |
True |
bool |
B |
Bool |
byte |
(none) | Byte |
short |
(none) | Short |
int |
I |
Int |
long |
L |
Long |
float |
F |
Float |
double |
D |
Double |
string |
S |
String |
Entity
An entity is a name that is equivalent to a value. There are two kinds of
entities: abstract and concrete. Abstract entities are declared with !, and
concrete entities with ?. The name must not conflict with a keyword (except if
within a namespace, as explained far below).
Entities are used by simply writing their name, like for a keyword.
!Person<firstName, lastName, age>
?name: Last
Person
[
(:First, name, 38)
(:Second, name, 47)
]
The example shows a list of tuples each associated with the same template head.
Key
A key is a name that is associated with a value. Except if in a dictionary, a key must not conflict with a keyword or an entity.
Explicit name
In cases where the same name as a keyword or entity must be used, the name can
be preceded with a $. This creates an explicit name.
For instance, this is valid:
$true = true
A key of the name “true” is associated with the keyword true.
Namespace and scoped name
An entity within a namespace can be accessed by using the scope resolution
operator: .. Only a namespace may be followed by it.
!nspace { ?ent = 200 }
value = nspace.ent
An entity’s name must only be unique within its namespace, and can be the same as keywords or entities defined before.