Revise "Variables"

This commit is contained in:
flaviut 2014-06-01 15:12:33 -04:00
commit dd592ebc92

View file

@ -11,38 +11,50 @@ proc getAlphabet(): string =
for letter in 'a'..'z':
result.add(letter)
const abcs = getAlphabet()
# Computed at runtime
const alphabet = getAlphabet()
# Mutable variables
var
a = "foo"
b = 0
# Works fine, initialized to 0
c: int
# Immutable variables
let
c = "foo"
d = 5
d = "foo"
e = 5
# Compile-time error, must be initialized at creation
f: float
a.add "bar" # This is fine because ``a`` is mutable.
b.inc # This is also fine.
# Works fine, `a` is mutable
a.add("bar")
b += 1
c = 3
c.add "bar" # This will result in an error.
d.inc # As will this.
# Compile-time error, const cannot be modified at run-time
alphabet = "abc"
# Compile-time error, `d` and `e` are immutable
d.add("bar")
e += 1
```
``` console
$ nimrod c --verbosity:2 ./assignment.nim
a20.nim(19, 0) Error: for a 'var' type a variable needs to be passed
c.add "bar" # This will result in an error.
^
$ nimrod c --verbosity:2 ./variables.nim
variables.nim(18, 2) Error: 'let' symbol requires an initialization
e: float
^
```
Without `--verbosity:2` only the error will be shown.
Without `--verbosity:2` only the error will be shown without the position cursor.
## Const
A `const` variable's value will be evaluated at compile-time, so if you inspect the C sources, you'll see the following line:
``` c
STRING_LITERAL(TMP129, "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz", 26);
```
The limitation with this is that procedures which are evaluated at compile-time cannot interface with C because there is no compile-time foreign function interface at this time.
As seen in the example, `var` variables are standard mutable variables, you can modify them after they've been assigned. `let` variables on the other hand are immutable variables. This means you can assign to them at creation time and can't change them later on. The difference between `let` and `const` is that a `const`'s expression must be evaluated at compile-time, a `let`'s expression doesn't have this requirement.
The only limitation with const is that compile-time evaluation cannot interface with C because there is no compile-time foreign function interface at this time.