Flow Control

Constructs to direct the flow of program execution.

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Conditional branching

The basic if statement works as expected, but the condition is not enclosed in (). There can only be a conditional expression following the if, so parsing of the condition stops when a newline is encountered or a comment.

All the if options in one example.

if true               // is it true?
    conditional_code
else if false         // or is it false?
    never_get_here
else                  // or is it neither?
    other_code

No assignment is permitted inside the if conditional expression.

Alternate / inline if:

if true     // conventional if statement
    ...
else
    ...

true ? ... : ...    // ternary operator

true ? ...          // ternary without 'else'

Allow in keyword in if statement?

arr := (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
x := 2
if x in arr // can x be found in arr?
    ...     // true

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Parenthesis

When parenthesis are used they are always part of the expression, not of the if statement. There is always a space after the if statement - this is what sets it apart from a function call.

if (42 = 42)    // if statement (+ space)
   ...

if(42)          // function call (no space)

Note that if is a reserved keyword and no named language element can have the same name as a reserved keyword. Maybe have an escape character?

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Range Conditions

a := 42
if a in [0..100]        // true
    ...

a := 42
if a not in [0..100]    // false
if not a in [0..100]    // ?
    ...

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If Expressions

TBD

Use the if keyword inside an expression.

a := 42
// newline/indent syntax does not work for expressions
v := if a > 42 -> 101 else a
v := a > 42 ? 101 : a            // same

// more complex expressions?
v := if a > 42 -> 101 else if a < 10 -> 0 else a * a

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Return

To return a value from a function.

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Return Expressions

TBD

The idea here is that the last expression value in the function body is automatically the return (type and) value. See this used in functional languages, but also Rust.

fn1: (): Bool
    true

fn2: (p: U8): Bool
    p = 42

fn3: (): Bool
    fn1()

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Yield

todo

Co-routines.

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Loops

A loop is an essential control mechanism in directing the execution flow of the code. There is only one keyword for making a loop: loop.

The simplest form is an endless loop:

loop
    endless_loop

A ‘while loop’ just adds a condition to the statement:

loop false
    never_get_here

loop true
    endless_loop

A do-until loop is not supported but can be easily constructed. A do-while loop has to be converted to a do-until loop (invert the condition).

a :=^ 42    // mutable
loop
    // a = 42, 41, 40, 39 ... 3, 2, 1
    a -= 1
    // until condition
    if a =< 0 -> break

Loop a certain number of times:

loop [0..10]
    loop_10_times

A ‘for’ or ‘for-each’ loop is constructed using a Range.

// n is mutable - but it's not explicit!
loop n in [0..10]
    for_n_is_0_to_9

Separate the number of times to loop from the variable value used in the code?

loop cannot be used with a range condition (as used in if). No way to tell the difference. Or do we need a different syntax for iteration?

// explicit to differ from range-condition
loop n in [0..10].GetEnumerator()
    foreach_n_0_to_9

// or range condition in () ?
loop (n in [0..10])
    n -= 1

Loop a number of times

loop 42
    do_this_42_times

c := 42
loop c
    do_this_42_times    // c is available (value=42)

What happens when c is modified inside the loop?

Loop or else

TBD: Most cases can probably be refactored into simpler code..?

x := 0
loop n in [0..x]
    ...     // empty loop
else
    log("Nothing to see here...")

Reverse loop

loop n in -[0..5]
    n_from_4_to_0

// or using step?
loop n in [0..5:-1]
    ...

TBD

Loop with more than one range/iter? How to control if ‘ranges’ are repeated or first one done ends the loop?

loop w in -[0..5], h in [0..10]
    w_makes_two_rounds_and_h_one
    w_makes_one_round_and_h_half

loop w in -[0..5] and h in [0..10]
    w_makes_two_rounds_and_h_one

loop w in -[0..5] or h in [0..10]
    w_makes_one_round_and_h_half

TBD

Access index during in-loop.

// n = value
// i = index
loop (n, i) in [0..5]
    // n = i

Nested loops

loop h in [0..10]
    loop w in [0..5]
        w_times_h

Loop with lambda?

loop i in [0..10]
    (i) -> log("Now at {i}.`n")

// short syntax?
loop [0..10] (i) -> log("Now at {i}.`n")

Loop with Function?

loop i in [0..10]
    LogInt(i)

// short syntax?
loop [0..10] -> LogInt

Custom Iterator function (.NET Enumerable/Enumerator)

// iterator function
loop n in Iter()
    work_with_n

TBD implicit casting?

// iterator function
loop n: OtherType in Iter()
    work_with_n_of_OtherType

TBD Async loops?

// async iterator function
loop n in IterAsync()
    work_with_n_awaited

TBD loops with CancellationTokens?

ct: CancellationToken = ...

// iterator function
loop n in Iter() and ct?
    work_with_n

When a type has the ? operator overloaded it can be used as a boolean expression by adding the ? to the end.

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Loop Expressions

loop                        // endless loop
loop <integer>              // loop count
loop <var> in [-]<range>    // (reverse) for-loop
loop <var> in <iter>        // for-each loop
(loop <expression>)         // access loop object
(loop <expression>).AsParallel()  // call loop object function

Expressions can be combined using the and and or keywords.

The and keyword requires both sides to finish. How to control if the shorter/faster side is to be restarted?

loop n in [0..3] and s in [2..9]
    ...

The ‘or’ keyword allows the fastest side to end the loop.

x := 101
loop n in [0..x] or 42 // 42 is the max loop count here
    ...

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TODO

Parallel Loops

Only loops with function bodies (.NET: TPL and PLINQ). The inline loop-body could be compiled into a function.

// what operator? (implies AsParallel)
loop [0..10] ->> LogInt

// (static) partition function
loop [0..10].Partition(3) -> LogInt
loop [0..10].Partition(3) ->> LogInt

// AsParallel function (.NET)
loop [0..10].AsParallel() -> LogInt

Cancelling parallel processing (CancellationToken)?

c = CancellationTokenSource
loop IterObjects().WithCancellation(c.Token) ->> LogInt
loop IterObjects() and c.Token? ->> LogInt

Async Loops

// auto-detect (implicit await) based on enumerator type?
loop n in IterAsync()
    ...

c = CancellationTokenSource
loop n in IterAsync().WithCancellation(c.Token)
loop n in IterAsync() and c.Token?
    ...

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Cycle<T> Type

An array of values that are cycled through each time it is read. Cycle<T> is a self-restarting iterator (enumerator).

l := (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
c := Cycle(l)
c := Cycle(l, 3)     // max 3 cycles (?)

m := c   // 1
n := c   // 2
o := c   // 3
p := c   // 4
q := c   // 5
r := c   // 1
s := c   // 2
t := c   // 3

For use in loops typically.

l := (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
c := Cycle(l)

loop i in [0..10] or n in c
    // i = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
    // n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Of course a Cycle can be constructed with a range.

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Break

It is possible to break out of the execution of a loop at any time with the break keyword.

Perhaps call it leave instead of break as it sounds less dreadful. Or exit loop and exit if and exit fn? up (as in up one scope/indent)?

Here’s an example of an endless loop that uses a conditional branch if to break out of the loop:

loop
    do_stuff_here
    if true
        break     // this will exit the loop

The break keyword only works on its immediate parent loop. In the case of nested loops, it will look like this:

loop                  // loop #1
    do_stuff_here
    loop              // loop #2
        do_other_stuff_here
        if true
            break     // this will exit loop #2

Let break break out of a scope in general - not a loop specifically. This would require if statement scopes to be ignored?

c :=^ 0
[c]     // capture scope
    x := c * 42
    if x = 0
        break
    // not executed when x = 0

// back to root scope
c = 42

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Continue

The opposite of break, the continue keyword will allow you to skip one iteration of the loop:

loop
    if true
        continue    // this will skip 'do_stuff_here'
    do_stuff_here

As with break, continue only works on the immediate parent loop.

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Exit

TBD: use exit as a keyword to replace break, continue, yield and return (and abort program)?

exit()              // exits program
exit(fn)            // exits function (return)
exit(co)            // exits coroutine (yield)
exit(iter)          // exits current iteration (continue)
exit(loop)          // exits loop (break)
exit(scope)         // exits current scope (1 up)
exit(err)           // throw exception

fn, co, iter etc.. are enum values.

fn: (p: U8): U8
    if p == 0 -> exit()     // abort program
    c: U8
    loop n in [0..p]
        if n = 42 -> exit(iter)    // continue
        if n = 101 -> exit(loop)   // break
        c += 1

    exit(fn) c  // return c

Downside is that this does not work with nested loops for instance.

use leave instead of exit? break => escape? continue => skip?

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TBD: a way to continue or break a specific outer loop in case of nested loops - or - specifying exit() with a variable / symbol name that identifies the instance of what to exit

loopFn: (p: U8)
    #lp1: loop n in [0..p]   // compile time label the loop?
        loop i in [0..9]
            if n + i = 42 -> exit(n)       // continue
            if n + i = 101 -> exit(lp1)    // break outer
            // alternate syntax - no labels required
            if n + i = 101 -> exit(loop n) // break outer
        if n = 42
            exit(loopFn)    // return from function
        if n = 101
            exit(Error("Too large")) // throw exception

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TBD: some sort of syntax (operators?) that would allow for ‘conditional arithmetic’ in order to reduce branches as an optimization.

Does the .NET compiler (or runtime) already do branchless optimization?

// instead of
greater: (a: I8, b: I8): I8
    if a > b
        return a;
    else
        return b;

// branchless (plain syntax)
greater: (a: I8, b: I8): I8
    return a * I8(a > b) + b * I8(b >= a)

// what syntax?
// or let our compiler do an auto tranform?
greater: (a: I8, b: I8): I8
    return (a > b) -> a, (b >= a) -> b

// match?
greater: (a: I8, b: I8): I8
    return match (a, b)
        (a > b) -> a
        (b >= a) -> b
        _ -> 0      // default case if needed