Language: Functions

Functions allow you to create reusable code to perform computations.

Below is a trivial example function that doubles a number and shows the main rule using the function:

double = func(x) {
    return x * 2
}

main = rule { double(12) is 24 }

Functions may contain any expressions, conditionals, and loops. They must return a value at the end of their execution. If no reasonable return value exists, the function should return undefined.

Creating a Function

A function is created by assigning a variable to a func.

A function can have zero or more parameters. These parameters are specified within parentheses () separated by commas. If a function has no parameters, the parentheses must still be present.

A function must terminate with a return statement to return a value back to the caller. Only a single value can be returned. The type of a return can vary between return statements.

Example:

add1 = func(x) { return x + 1 }

This example creates a function that adds 1 to the parameter x. It is assigned to the variable add1.

Calling a Function

Functions are called by accessing their name followed by parentheses with a list of comma-separated values for the parameters. If the function takes no parameters, an empty set of parentheses must still be used to denote a function call.

To call the function in the example above:

x = 1
y = add1(x)

Scoping

The body of a func creates a new scope.

The parent scope is the scope in which the function is created. This allows for the creation of functions within functions that can access their outer scopes.

Example:

f = func() {
    a = 42
    print(a) // 42
    return undefined
}

print(a) // undefined

a = 18
f = func() {
    a = 42
    return undefined
}

print(a) // 18

And below is an example of creating a function in a function which uses outer values:

f = func() {
    a = 42
    double = func() { return a * 2 }
    return double()
}

print(f()) // 84

A more complex example below shows how scoping works when passing functions around as arguments or results:

f = func() {
    a = 42
    double = func() { return a * 2 }
    return double
}

double = f()
print(double()) // 84

Pass By Value

The parameters to a function are passed by value, but not deep copied. This means that elements of collections can still be modified but the root value cannot be changed.

Example:

f = func(x) {
    x = "value"
    return x
}

x = "outside"
f(x)
print(x) // "outside"

f = func(x) {
    append(x, "value")
    return x
}

x = []
f(x)
print(x) // ["value"]

Recursion

A function is allowed to call other functions, including itself. This can be used to implement recursion. For example, the fibonacci sequence is implemented below:

fib = func(x) {
    if x <= 0 {
        return undefined
    }

    if x == 1 {
        return 1
    } else {
        return x + fib(x - 1)
    }
}

Note that this example also shows using undefined as a return value in cases where a function has undefined behavior.