Pascal Inspired New-Talk (PINT)

PINT (like beer) is a hypothetical object-oriented programming language. Its syntax is heavily inspired by Pascal, so much so that you can obtain syntax highlighting generally by just enabling any .pint file to use a Pascal language file. Unlike Pascal, PINT has a number of more modern features which aim to reduce repetition and enhance availability of run-time information out of the box.

PINT is neither compiled, nor interpreted, because it's not real yet. However, the ultimate aim is to have a compiled language with flexibility in choice of dynamic (less efficient) or type-safe (more efficient) features and data structures.

Basic Usage

Hello World

unit main;

uses io;

register main: function(): void
begin
	io.writeLn('Hello, World!');
end

Declaring Variables

Variables can be declared separately or declared during assignment. The universal declaration format is the following.

var <name>:[<type>][([<size>])][[[<span>]]];

When a variable is declared, the signature of the declaration says a lot about the variable. There are three main concepts to cover here:

Type vs. Size vs. Span

Values have both a type and a size. This is contrast to other languages where the size is often part of type. What the size refers to depends on the type, for numbers it refers to its bit-length, for characters and strings it refers to the UTF code unit size. Sizes should not be thought of as the amount of memory consumed.

The span is the logical length of the thing. For an array of characters (aka: a string), this would be the length of the string. Since a UTF-8 or UTF-16 string can have multi-byte characters, the span is not equivalent, still, to the amount of memory consumed.

Explicit vs. Implicit

Both the type and size of a variable can be explicitly or implicitly declared. If these are explicitly declared, then you would not be able to initialize the value with an incompatible type/size. If these are implicitly declared, then the type/size are determined upon initialization, but are immutable.

Fixed vs. Dynamic

The type, size, and span of a variable can also be fixed or dynamic. If a type of a variable is fixed, whether the type was determined explicitly (at declaration) or implicitly (at initialization) it cannot be changed. A dynamic type, by contrast, means that the type of the variable can change. The same logic applies to size and span.

Examples

Explicit fixed type and explicit fixed size:

var x: integer(8);

Explicit fixed type and implicit fixed size and

var x: integer();

Explicit fixed type and implicit dynamic size:

var x: integer;

Implicit fixed type and explicit fixed size:

var x:(8);

Implicit fixed type and implicit fixed size:

var x:();

Implicit fixed type and implicit dynamic size:

var x:;

Implicit dynamic type and implicit dynamic size:

var x;

Any of the above declaration styles can turned into an array by appending []:

var x: integer(8)[];

You can fix the span of an array by adding a number inside the brackets:

var x: integer(8)[5];

Strings are just arrays of characters with a dynamic span. The following two declaration are equivalent:

var x: char(8)[];
var y: string(8);

Accordingly, if you want a fixed span string (as opposed to an array of strings), you need to use something like the following:

var x: char(8)[5]

The following would created a array of strings with a fixed span (the strings themselves have a dynamic span):

var x: string(8)[5];

Similarly a boolean value declared as follows would result in an array of booleans with a size of one and a span equivalent to the specified size:

var x: boolean(8);

You can declare multiple variables at once with a comma:

var x, y, z: integer(8);

Types and Default Sizes

Whenever a variable is declared without explicit size, or when a constant of a certain type is used in the code, the default sizes are as follows:

Keyword	Default Size	Description
integer	32	Signed integer value. Default for any var x:integer or constant (in code), e.g. 5.
cardinal	32	Unsigned integer value. Default for any var x:cardinal. There is no way to specify a constant (in code) as a cardinal.
real	32	Signed float values. Default for any var x:real or constant (in code), e.g. 5.5.
char	8	Character value, size indicates multi-byte unit size. Characters are UTF-8. Default for any var x:char or constant single character string (in code), e.g. 'c'.
string	8	String value, size indicates multi-byte unit size. Strings are UTF-8. Default for any var x:string or constant multi-character string (in code), e.g. 'string'.
boolean	1	Boolean value, size > 1 indicates a bitmask, equivalent to var x:boolean(1)[<span>]

Assignment

You can declare variables separately (as we have seen) or declare them during assignment. Use var only when declaring. For example, a combined declaration and assignment would look like:

var x: integer(8) = 5;

Assigned separately would look like:

var x: integer(8);

x = 5;

You can assign multiple variables at once by separating them with a comma:

var x, y: integer(8);

x, y = 5;

Constants

To declare a constant, use the set keyword instead:

set x: integer(8) = 5;

You can still declare constants separately, however, they can only be assigned once.

Dynamic Identifiers

You can use the $ symbol to resolve identifiers dynamically. For example:

set foo  := "bar";
set $foo := "foo";

io.writeLn('the value of ', foo, ' is ', $foo);

References

You can use the @ symbol to declare a reference.

set foo  := "bar";
set @bar := foo;

io.writeLn('the value of bar is ', bar);

Conditions

Block style multi-statement conditionals use the begin keyword and require termination either by the next condition or end.

if x < 5 begin
	io.writeln('x is less than 5');
else if x == 5 begin
	io.writeLn('x is equal to 5');
else begin
	io.writeLn('x is greater than 5');
end

Single statement conditions use the then keyword and are terminated by the semi-colon:

if x < 5 then
	io.writeLn('x is less than 5');
else if x == 5 then
	io.writeLn('x is equal to 5');
else then
	io.writeLn('x is greater than 5');

It is possible to mix begin and then.

Not

if not x < 5 then
	io.writeln('x is greater than or equal to 5');

And

if x < 5 and x <> 3 then
	io.writLn('x is less than 5, but not 3');

Or

if x < 5 or x > 5 then
	io.writeLn('x is not 5');

Case

var msg: string;

case x begin
	1:
		msg = 'x is 1';
	[2, 3, 4]:
		msg = 'x is 2, 3, or 4';
	5..10:
		msg = 'x is >= 5, but <= 10';
	else:
		msg = 'x < 1 or > 10';
end	

Case cases break by default. If you want to continue to the next case use continue:

case x begin
	1:
		continue;
	2:
		msg = 'x is 1 or 2';
	3:
		msg = 'x is 3';
end
		

You can use cases for conditional assignments as well, the => syntax is used for single expression return:

var msg: string = case x begin
	1         => 'x is 1',
	[2, 3, 4] => 'x is 2, 3, or 4',
	5..10     => 'x is >= 5, but <= 10',
	else      => 'x < 1 or > 10'
end

Here's how you'd perform a ternary using them, the then keyword, which creates a simple either/or single expression return:

var msg: string = case x < 5
	then 'x is less than 5',
	else 'x is greater than or equal to 5';

Loops

A basic for loop:

for var x = 1 to 5 begin
	io.writeLn('x is equal to ', x);
end

Simplified to a single line:

for var x = 1 to 5 do
	io.writeLn('x is equal to ', x);

Iterating over characters in a string:

for var x in 'string' do
	io.writeLn('x is equal to ', x);

Iterating over values in an array:

for var x in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] do
	io.writeLn('x is equal to ', x);

Iterating over the indexes of an array:

for var x of [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] do
	io.writeLn('data @ ', x, ' is equal to ', data[x]);

Iterating over the values in an object:

for var x in (foo := "bar", bar := "foo") do
	io.writeLn('x is equal to ', x);

Iterating over the keys of an object:

for var x of (foo := "bar", bar := "foo") do
	io.writeLn('data @ ', x, ' is equal to ', data.$x);

A basic while loop:

var x = 1;

while x < 5 begin
	io.writeLn('x is equal to ', x);
	x++;
end

A single line while loop;

var x = 'string';

while x.length do
	io.writeLn(x.pop(2)); // outputs: 'ng', 'ri', 'st'

A repeat loop:

var x = 1;

repeat
	io.writeLn('x is equal to ', x);
	x++;
until
	x == 5;

Units

Units are effectively the namespaces of your code. All code must belong to a unit, you declare the unit for the code as follows:

unit app;

You can have a sub-units by separating the members of the unit path with a \ character:

unit app\utils;

Uses

To "import" or use code in another unit from the currently declared unit/sub-unit, you would use the uses keyword:

uses io;

NOTE: The uses keyword operates as an alias. Modules registered inside a unit is not actually "imported" or linked until it is used.

To use a registered module, you can separate the unit path from the module identifier with a . character:

uses io.writeLn;

You can alias the units and or modules you're using with the as keyword.

uses io.writeLn as printLn;

If you want to import multiple individual modules from the same unit path, you can use () syntax such as:

uses io.(writeLn, readLn);

You can combine all of these into a single uses statement:

uses
	io.(
		readLn,
		writeLn as printLn
	),
	crono.time,
	crypt\rot13.encode as encrypt
;

Register Modules

Once a unit is declared, you can begin registering modules (functions, types, etc) within that unit. The shortest possible PINT program would look like the following:

unit main;

register main: function => 0;

Functions

Functions generally look more like this:

register main: function(argc: integer; argv: string[]): integer(8)
begin
	return 0;
end

The use of return above is actually a short hand for assigning the return value and immediately returning from the function. We can also assign the return value directly and only return at the end of the function, allowing us to perform actions after our return value has been determined.

register main: function(argc: integer; argv: string[]): integer(8)
begin
	if not var config = getConfig('/var/app/config.jin') then
		return = 1;
	else then
		return = 0;

	cleanup();
end

register cleanup: function(): void
begin
	{
		Do cleanup work here.
	}
end

Alternative return types allow you to return arbitrary values from a function which do not match any of its known return types. You do this by placing a ? symbol before the known return type:

register getConfig: function(path: string): ?Config
begin
	if not var fd = io.openFile(path) then
		return new Error('Could not open configuration at "%s"'.format(path));
	else begin
		var config:Config = new Config();

		// parse and set configuration information
		
		return config;
	end
end

To capture the returned value and assert its type, use the on statement. In the example below, in the event that error is an Error we iterate and print the errors so long as there are previous errors to report.

var config: Config;

config? error = getConfig('/var/app/config.jin');

on error is Error repeat
    io.writeLn('Error: %s in function %s'.format(error.getMessage(), error.getFunction()));
    error = error.getPrevious();
until
	not error;

Anonymous Functions

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].map(function(x) => x + 1)

var callback := (
	function(x)
	begin
		return x + 1;
	end
);

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].map(callback);

Object Oriented Constructs

In this next section, we'll examine the object-oriented constructs of PINT.

Objects

Basic objects are not classed. They are basically dictionaries with variant properties.

var context   := new object()
context.left  := x;
context.right := y;

You can also use a literal syntax:

var context := (
	left  := x,
	right := y
);

To access an object property you can use the . notation when the identifier is static. You can also use the dynamic identifiers to access properties:

var key := 'left';

return context.$key;

Types

You can define custom types which are a union of multiple types using the type form.

unit Orm;

register Criteria: type(
	integer,
	string
);

Extend them:

unit app;

uses Orm;

register ExtendedCriteria: type(
	Orm.Criteria,
	object
);

Labels

Labels are PINT's form of enumerators.

unit Logger;

register Level: label(
	INFO,
	WARNING,
	ERROR
);

If you're extending an existing library, it's often the case that you may need to add members. Accordingly you can extend labels too:

unit ContextLogger;

uses Logger;

register Level: label(
	Logger.Level,
	CRITICAL
);

Labels are accessed using a # notation:

Level#INFO

Records

Records are basically structs. They're like objects, but their properties are declared in advance and can have default values assigned at the time of instantiation. In the example below, the timestamp would reflect the return value of time() at the time an Entry record is instantiated (not when declared).

unit Logger;

uses crono.time;

register Entry: record(
	text: string,
	level: LogLevel,
	timestamp: cardinal default time()
);

Like labels, records can extend other records:

unit ContextLogger;

uses Logger;

register Entry: record(
	Logger.Entry,
	context: Context
);

To use a record, you need to use the new keyword to create an instance:

uses ContextLogger(Entry, Level);

var entry := new Entry(
	text    = 'Cannot find record of type %s'.format(User),
	level   = Level#WARNING,
	context = (
		id := id
	)
);

Any property which does not have a default initialization is required to be set upon instantiation.

Interfaces

Interfaces are an easy way that you can define methods which may be common across multiple implementations. All defined interface methods are public. Continuing with our logger example, we might define a simple logger interface as follows:

unit Logger;

register Log: interface
begin
	set log: function(entry: Entry): ?self;
end

Extending that as well:

unit ContextLogger;

uses Logger;

register Log: interface(Logger.Log)
begin
	set log: function(entry: Entry): ?self;
end

Implementations

Implementations are like traits, they represent horizontally sharable functionality, they can offer implementations of interfaces:

unit Core;

uses io, crono, json, ContextLogger(Log, Entry);

register FileLogger(Log): implementation
begin
	public:
        set log: function(entry: Entry): ?Log
        begin
            var today := new crono.Date('today');
            var fd    := io.openFile(
                'storage/logs/%s.log'.format(today.format('Y-m-d')),
                io.Mode#APPEND
            );

            if not fd then
                return = new Error('Could not open log file');
            else begin
                io.writeLine('%s: %s %s'.format(
                    entry.level,
                    entry.txt,
                    json.encode(entry.context)
                );

                io.close(handle);

                return = this;
            end
        end
end

Classes

Unlike other object-oriented types, classes cannot extend other classes. They can, however, implement interfaces (like implementations can), or use implementations. In the example below we use our previously defined FileLogger implementation, that implements ContextLogger.Log to extend it's functionality to our Application:

unit Core;

use crono, ContextLogger(Entry, Level);

register Application: class(FileLogger)
begin
	public:
		set boot: function(): self
		begin
			var start = crono.time();
			
			// Do booting stuff
			
			this.log(new Entry(
				text    = 'Finished booting',
				level   = Level#CONTEXT,
				context = (
					time := crono.time() - start
				)
			));
		end
end

Generics

These are just some ideas for generics

unit DI;

register Injector: class()
begin
	public:
		set get: function(class: class<T>): T
		begin
			return new T();
		end
end

unit DB;

register EntityId: type(): (
	integer,
	string,
	object
);

register Repository: implementation<T of Entity>()
begin
	protected:
		set @manager: Manager;

	public:
		constructor(@manager: Manager): void
		begin
			this.manager = manager;
		end
		
		set find: function(id: EntityId): ?T
		begin
			{find the entity and return it or return nil if not found}
		end
end

register Manager: class()
begin
	private:
		set repositories: object;

	public:
		constructor()
		begin
			this.repositories = new object();
		end
	
		set getRepository: function(class: class<T of Repository>): T
		begin
			if not set this.repositories[class] begin
				this.repositories[class] := new T(this);
			end

			return this.repositories[class];
		end
end

unit App;

register Person: class()
begin
	protected:
		var id: integer;
end

register People: class(Repository<Person>)
begin

end

unit main;

uses DI, DB, App;

register main: function(): integer
begin
	var manager := DI.Injector.get(DB.Manager);
	var people  := manager.getRepository(App.People);
	var person  := people.find((email: '[email protected]'));
end