Syntax

Documentation/specification of Jingle's syntax

Syntax

Overview

Jingle's syntax is influenced by and is designed for users of high-level languages such as Python and Ruby. However, it brings it slightly lower-level in an attempt to make the syntax more streamlined, simple and enjoyable to program and play with.

Files

All Jingle source files are stored in plain text files with a .jn file extension.

Comments

Line comments begin with # and run to the end of the line. # This is a comment. Block comments begin with /* and end with */. Unlike line comments, block comments can span multiple lines.

/* This
   is
   a
   block
   comment */

Since block comments are detected and treated the same way as typical blocks they can be nested within other block comments.

/* Outside /* inside comment */ comment */

This feature is very useful as code that already has block comments can still be fully commented out without removing or changing existing comments.

Reserved words

If you still want to have a feel of the language's style then you can view Jingle's reserved keywords.

and   end    nil
as    false  not
bind  fn     or
break for    require
class from   return
const if     this
def   import trait
echo  in     true
elif  is     var
else  let    while

Obviously all names of types are reserved keywords, such as int, float, bool etc.

Identifiers

The naming rules in Jingle are very similar to those of other programming languages. Identifiers start with a letter or underscore and may contain letters, digits or underscores. Case is insensitive.

hello
camelCase
PascalCase
_underscore
abc123
CONSTANT_IS_ALL_CAPS

Constants usually have all capital identifers but they are not needed. Classes and functions should use PascalCase but variables should use camelCase. Special variables should start with underscores (_).

Blocks

The syntax of block definition in Jingle is a combination of Python and Ruby. They are started with a colon (:) and ended with the keyword end. Blocks can be used in the following: control flow statements, class bodies, function bodies, method bodies and trait bodies.

Example of a block in an if statement.

if happy == true && knowIt == true:
   Hands.Clap()
else:
   echo "Sad"
end

Blocks that just contain statements implicitly return a value of nil when completed. If you wish to make the block return a different value, then you must use a return statement. For example, both of these functions return "It is true".

if test == true:
   "It is true"
end

if test == true:
   return "It is true"
end

Operators

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