Table of Contents

List of Tokens

Newline
Indent
Separator
Permission
Return Direction
Int
UInt
Float
String
Rune
Name
Colon
Dot
Elipsis
Comma
LBracket and RBracket
LBrace and RBrace
Plus and Minus
Increment and Decrement
Asterisk and Slash
At
Exclamation
Percent
Tilde
Assignment
Equal To
Not Equal To
Less Than and Greater Than
Less Than Equal To and Greater Than Equal To
Left Shift and Right Shift
Binary Or and Logical Or
Binary And and Logical And

Arf's syntax is composed of basic elements called tokens. They can be arranged to build higher level syntactical features.

Important: some characters in this documented may be affected by font ligatures, and do not reflect what the language actually accepts as valid. If it is not immediately apparent what a given character is, paste it into a text field that is not ligaturized.

List of Tokens

Newline

A simple line break.

Indent

A series of tabs characters. It's value should describe its indentation level.

Separator

A series of three dashes (---). It is used so separate a file's metadata from its body, and in functions.

Permission

A permission value.

Return Direction

A return direction arrow (->).

Int

A negative integer number. This says nothing about the actual intended type of the value, just the representation of it found in the source code.

UInt

An positive integer number. This says nothing about the actual intended type of the value, just the representation of it found in the source code.

Float

A floating point number.

String

A string literal delimited by double quotes. It supports these escape codes:

\a
\b
\f
\n
\r
\t
\v
\'
\"
\\

Hexidecimal and unicode escape codes are also permitted:

\xNN
\uNNNN
\UNNNNNNNN

... where N is a single digit from 0-F.

String and rune literals support both \' and \".

Rune

A unicode character literal delimited by single quotes. Only one character value is supported. All escape codes that work in strings work in rune literals.

Name

Names are composed of characters a-z, A-Z, and 0-9. However, they must start with an alphabetical character. They do not support underscores.

Colon

A colon symbol. It is used in type notation.

Dot

A dot symbol. It is used in member selection and object initialization.

Elipsis

Two consecutive dots. It is used in type notation to describe an array with a variable length, and will in the future be used in functions with variable input counts.

Comma

This token is not used for anything as of now.

LBracket and RBracket

Left and right square brackets ([ and ]). These are used to delimit prases.

LBrace and RBrace

Left and right curly braces ({ and }). These are used for pointer dereferencing and array subscript notation, as well as in type notation to describe pointers and arrays.

Plus and Minus

Plus and minus symbols (+ and -). These are used to add and subtract values.

Increment and Decrement

The plus and minus symbols respectively, but each repeated once (++ and --). These are used to increment and decrement values.

Asterisk and Slash

Multiplication and division symbols (* and /). These are used to multiply and divide values.

At

An @ symbol. This is used to define method recievers in function/method sections.

Exclamation

An exclamation point. This is used as a logical not. In the future may be used to notate exception handling in functions.

Percent

A percent sign. This is used for modulo operations.

Tilde

A tilde (~) symbol. This is used as a binary not.

Assignment

An equals symbol (=). This is used to set values.

Equal To

A double equals symbol (==). This is used to check the equality of values.

Not Equal To

A not equals symbol (!=). This is used to check inequality.

Less Than and Greater Than

Less than and greater than symbols (< and >). These are used to compare numbers, and denote inputs and outputs in function/method sections.

Less Than Equal To and Greater Than Equal To

Like the less than and greater than tokens, except each followed by an equals symbol (<= and >=). These are used to compare numbers.

Left Shift and Right Shift

The less than and greater than sumbols respectively, but each repeated once (<< and >>). These are used to perform left and right bit shift options on values.

Binary Or and Logical Or

A binary or is a single pipe symbol (|). A logical or is a double pipe symbol (||).

Binary And and Logical And

A binary and is a single amperseand symbol (&&). A logical or is a double amperseand symbol (&&).