README.md

JITCalculator

JITCalculator is a small functional language.

Data Types

Currently the only data types are Integers, List, and Strings.

List

let myList = [1, 2, 3]

Lists may also be nested:

let thisisvalid = [1, [2, 3], 4, [5]]

Lists may be indexed:

# get the 3rd element
let myList = [1,2,3,4]
myList()[2]

Lists may be sliced (just like python):

let myList = [1,2,3,4]

# returns [2,3]
myList()[1:3]

# returns [2,3,4]
myList()[1:]

# returns [1,2,3]
myList()[:3]

# returns [1,2,3,4]
myList()[:]

Strings may be treated as lists, i.e. you can index, and slice strings.

Functions

To define a function, use the let keyword. If the function does not take any arguments, the parens may be omitted. In jc functions are first class, meaning they can be passed around as variables/arguments to methods.

 let add(a,b) = a + b
 let x = 1

Built in List Functions

• head - returns the first element in the list.
• tail - returns the whole list minus the first element.
• len - returns the length of the list.
• isEmpty - returns if the list is empty.

All list functions will also work with Strings.

Guards

To do any type of branching, you currently must use guards.

let min(a,b) 
  | a < b = a
  | else = b

JITCalculator will evaluate each guard until it finds one that evaluates to true, then it will execute and return the corresponding expression. If no guards evaluate to true, the else expression will be run. Currently you must have an else condition. Guards allow for much more interesting computations, such as ones that require looping/recursion.

Closures

Closures are functions that capture scope and may be defined on the fly.

# closure that takes one argument
# returns 2
{ (x) = x + 1 }(1)

# example capturing scope
# returns 4

let addThem(x,y) = { () = x + y }()
addThem(2,2)

Example program

 let factorial(n) 
  | n > 1 = factorial(n-1) * n
  | else = 1
  
 factorial(5)