Syntax Overview

Novum uses a compact expression-oriented syntax.

Statements and expressions

Most constructs are expressions. Blocks evaluate their contained expressions and produce the value of the last successful expression.

{
    x = 10
    y = 20
    x + y
}

The exact comment forms are lexer-defined. Keep comments consistent with the syntax accepted by the current lexer.

Identifiers are used for variables, functions, fields, modules, types, and parameters.

Common literals include:

42
3.14
true
false
"hello"
[1, 2, 3]

f(1, 2)
obj.method(1)

Named arguments are supported for user-defined functions, methods, and struct/class constructors:

f(y=3, x=2)
Point(x=2, y=3)

Positional arguments must precede named arguments:

f(1, y=2)     // valid
f(x=1, 2)     // invalid

Field access:

object.field

Indexing:

xs[0]
d["key"]

Tuple indexing uses dot syntax where supported by the parser:

pair.0

Simple assignment:

x = 10

Compound assignment:

x += 1
xs[0] += 1
object.value *= 2

import math as m
m.sqrt(16)