Initialization - arf

Archived

set phrases, data sections, and type and function return default values all support value initialization. There are two types of initialization in ARF: simple and complex.

Simple initialization is just a single argument that is sufficient for setting the value of a simple thing such as an Int. However, objects and arrays require more than that. This is where complex initialization comes in.

An indented block under a...

Data section
Type section
Enum section member
Objt section member
Set phrase
Function ouput declaration

... is to be treated as a complex initialization. There are two types of complex initialization: object and array. Array initialization is simple, it is just a list of values of the same type. The following array initializations are syntactically and semantically valid:

set x:{Int 4}
	3849 92348 93 -21
	
set y:{Int 5}
	23 2
	39 695 1

set z:{Int 5}
	23
	2
	39
	695
	1

Object initializations allow setting the values for an entire object, including its constituent parts:

set x:SomeObject
	.someMember 5
	.memberWithMembers
		.bird0
		.bird1
	.arrayMember
		9853 943850 2093 399
		394 93

The parser is able to differentiate between the two because in an object initialization block, every member is preceded by a dot. Object initialization members may nest - they may have array initializations in them, or even other object initializations.