updated readme. again.

README.md

@@ -1,27 +1,278 @@
 # mers ![build status](https://github.com/Dummi26/mers/actions/workflows/rust.yml/badge.svg)
 
-Mers is an experimental programming language inspired by high-level and scripting languages, but with error handling inspired by rust.
+Mers is a simple and reliable programming language.
+
+While mers can already be used right now,
+many things about it will still change -
+at least until 1.0.0 is released.
+For serious projects, this probably
+isn't the language you should be using.
 
 ## Why mers?
 
-mers has...
+### it doesn't crash
 
-- the type-safety of statically typed languages
+If your program starts, **it won't crash**.
-  + mers will not crash unless you `exit()` with a nonzero exit code or write flawed assumptions using the builtin `.assume*()` functions (Rust's `unwrap` or `expect`)
+The only exceptions to this are
-- the flexibility of dynamically typed languages
+the builtin `exit()` function, which can exit with a nonzero exit code
-  + `x := if condition() { "my string" } else { 12 } // <- this is valid`
+and the builtin `assume` functions, similar to Rust's `unwrap()`.
-- "correctness" (this is subjective and I'll be happy to discuss some of these decisions with people)
+
-  + there is no `null` / `nil`
+This is because **errors in mers are values**,
-  + all references are explicit: if you pass a list by value, the original list will *never* be modified in any way.
+and the compiler forces you to handle them.
-  + errors are normal values! (no special treatment)
+
-- a flexible type system to easily represent these errors and any complex structure including recursive types:
+### type system
-  + nothing: `[]` (an empty tuple)
+
-  + a string: `string`
+In mers, a type can consist of multiple types:
-  + two strings: `[string string]` (a tuple)
+
-  + many strings: `[string ...]` (a list)
+```
-  + Either a string or nothing (Rust's `Option<String>`): `string/[]`
+// bool
-  + Either an int or an error: (Rust's `Result<isize, String>`): `int/string` (better: `int/Err(string)`)
+half := true
-- compile-time execution through (explicit) macro syntax: `!(mers {<code>})` or `!(mers "file")`
+// float/int
+number := if half { 0.5 } else { 1 }
+
+// some math functions that work with int and float
+fn absolute_value(num int/float) {
+  if num >= 0 { num } else { 0 - num }
+}
+fn difference(a int/float, b int/float) {
+  absolute_value(a - b)
+}
+
+debug(difference(0.2, 2)) // float: 1.8
+// although difference can work with floats, since we only give it ints, it also returns an int.
+// this is known at compile time.
+debug(difference(20, 5)) // int: 15
+```
+
+With this, you can write code like you would in dynamically typed languages:
+
+```
+user_input := if true { "some text input" } else { 19 }
+```
+
+But you get the compile-time checks you love from statically typed ones:
+
+```
+if user_input >= min_age {
+  println("welcome!")
+}
+```
+
+Because `user_input` could be a string, the code above won't compile.
+
+### it's simple
+
+Almost everything in mers is built around this type system.
+This eliminates many concepts you may be familiar with:
+
+#### instead of null or exceptions, just add `[]` or the error(s) to the return type
+
+```
+// returns `[]` instead of dividing by zero
+fn div_checked(a int, b int) -> int/[] {
+  if b != 0 {
+    a / b
+  } else {
+    []
+  }
+}
+
+// returns the file content as a string.
+// if the file can't be read, returns IoError and an error message.
+// if the file's contents weren't Utf8, return NotUtf8 and the file's bytes.
+fn load_file_as_string(path string) -> string/IoError(string)/NotUtf8([int ...]) {}
+```
+
+#### structs are nothing more than tuples
+
+```
+// define our type named Person
+type Person [int, string]
+
+// function to get (but not set) the person's birth year
+fn birth_year(self Person) self.0
+
+// function to get or set the person's name
+fn name(self Person/&Person) self.1
+
+person := [1999, "Ryan"]
+
+// Get the values
+person.name() // Ryan
+person.birth_year() // 1999
+
+// Change the name
+&person.name() = "James"
+// or: name(&person) = "James"
+person.name() // James
+
+// This doesn't compile:
+// &person.birth_year() = 1998
+```
+
+#### enums are already part of the type system
+
+```
+type DirectoryEntry File(string)/Dir(string)/Link(DirectoryEntry)
+```
+
+#### return and break
+
+Most people agree that `goto` statements are usually a bad idea.
+But `return` and `break` have similar issues, although less severe:
+
+**they create weird control flow:**
+
+Maybe you want to see how long a function takes to execute, so
+you add a `println` to the end - just to see absolutely no output.
+Now you might think the function is stuck in an infinite loop somewhere,
+although it just returned before it ever got to your println.
+This can be annoying. If we remove `return` statements,
+it becomes way easier to tell when code will or won't be executed.
+
+**return is exclusive to functions, break to loops**
+
+With mers, whenever possible, concepts in the language should work on *statements*.
+
+An example of this are type annotations:
+
+```
+fn half(num int) -> int { num / 2 }
+```
+
+The `-> int` indicates that this function returns an int.
+Actually, it indicates that the statement following it returns an int.
+This obviously means the function will also return an int,
+but since this syntax isn't specifically made for functions,
+we can use it anywhere we want:
+
+```
+num := -> int { 4 + 5 }
+half(-> int { double * 2})
+```
+
+**So how do we return values then?**
+Simple!
+
+```
+// a function is just another statement
+fn return_int() 4 + 5
+
+// a block returns whatever its last statement returns,
+fn return_string() {
+  a := "start"
+  b := "end"
+  a + " " + b
+}
+
+// this returns string/[], because there is no else
+if condition() {
+  "some value"
+}
+
+// this returns string/int
+if condition() {
+  "some value"
+} else {
+  12
+}
+```
+
+Most returns should be relatively intuitive,
+although some special ones (like loops)
+use matching (see docs/intro)
+
+### it has references
+
+To explain why this is necessary,
+let's look at examples from other languages.
+
+Here is some JavaScript:
+
+```js
+function doSmth(list) {
+  list[0] = 0
+}
+function modify(num) {
+  num = 0
+}
+list = [1]
+num = 1
+doSmth(list)
+modify(num)
+console.log(list) // [ 0 ]
+console.log(num) // 1
+```
+
+The same thing in Go:
+
+```go
+package main
+import "fmt"
+
+func doSmth(list []int) {
+    list[0] = 0
+}
+func modify(num int) {
+    num = 0
+}
+func main() {
+    list := []int{1}
+    num := 1
+    doSmth(list)
+    modify(num)
+    fmt.Println(list) // [0]
+    fmt.Println(num) // 1
+}
+```
+
+In both cases, the function was able to modify the list's contents,
+but unable to change the number to a different value.
+This is not just inconsistent, it's also not always what you wanted to do:
+
+- i passed the list by value, how could the function change the inner value?
+- the function is called `modify`, why can't it modify the value?
+  + In Go, we could use references to make this work - but that just makes the list example even more annoying, since we don't need a reference to change the inner value.
+
+So, let's look at mers:
+
+```
+fn doSmth(list [int ...]) {
+  &list.get(0).assume1() = 0
+}
+fn modify(num &int) {
+  num = 0
+}
+list := [1 ...]
+num := 1
+doSmth(list)
+modify(&num)
+debug(list) // [1 ...]
+debug(num) // 0
+```
+
+The list is unchanged, but the number was changed by `modify`,
+because it was explicitly passed as a reference `&int`.
+**Unless you pass a reference, the value you passed will not be changed.**
+
+### compile-time execution via macros
+
+```
+// at compile-time, runs primes.mers to find the first few prime numbers
+primes := !(mers "primes.mers")
+
+// at compile-time, runs the code to create a string
+// containing 256 '-'s
+long_string := !(mers {
+  str := "-"
+  loop {
+    str = str + str
+    if str.len() >= 256 {
+      str
+    }
+  }
+})
+```
 
 ## How mers?
 
@@ -37,7 +288,7 @@ Now, create a new text file (or choose one from the examples) and run it: `mers
 
 If a function is called from two threads, all local variables of that function are shared.
 This doesn't affect builtin functions, and since functions usually don't take long to execute,
-the change of anyone encountering this is low, but it's something to be aware of.
+the chance of anyone encountering this is low, but it's something to be aware of.
 It's a simple fix in theory, but a lot of work to implement, which is why the bug isn't fixed yet.
 
 ## Docs

mers/src/lang/code_runnable.rs

@@ -96,21 +96,20 @@ impl RFunction {
     pub fn out_by_map(&self, input_types: &Vec<VType>, info: &GlobalScriptInfo) -> Option<VType> {
         // NOTE: This can ONLY use self.out_map, because it's used by the VSingleType.fits_in method.
         let mut empty = true;
-        let out = self
+        let out =
-            .out_map
+            self.out_map
-            .iter()
+                .iter()
-            .fold(VType::empty(), |mut t, (fn_in, fn_out)| {
+                .fold(VType::empty(), |mut t, (fn_in, fn_out)| {
-                if fn_in.len() == (input_types.len())
+                    if fn_in.len() == (input_types.len())
-                    && fn_in
+                        && fn_in.iter().zip(input_types.iter()).all(|(fn_in, arg)| {
-                        .iter()
+                            arg.types.iter().any(|t| t.fits_in_type(fn_in, info))
-                        .zip(input_types.iter())
+                        })
-                        .all(|(fn_in, arg)| arg.fits_in(fn_in, info).is_empty())
+                    {
-                {
+                        empty = false;
-                    empty = false;
+                        t.add_typesr(fn_out, info);
-                    t.add_typesr(fn_out, info);
+                    }
-                }
+                    t
-                t
+                });
-            });
         if empty {
             None
         } else {