rual

A small, functional-first, embeddable language for Rust, inpired by Lua.

Language design

• Simple syntax
• All values should be immutable
• Values can be shadowed

Simple and non-obtrusive function definitions

-- this is a single-line comment..
-{
  this is
  a multiline comment
}-

-- a flat lambda
f: x, y -> x + y

-- or with a block
g: x, y -> {
  let z = 5
  x + y + z
}

Simple built-in types

let x = 3

let b = true

let s = 'string'

Out-of-the-box tuples, lists & maps

-- a tuple
let (p, q) = (1, 7)

-- a list of `i32`
let xs = [ 1..10 ]

-- this `xs` shadows the previous definition
let [x, ...xs] = map(xs, \x -> 11 - x) -- x = 10, xs = [ 9..1 ]

-- a map with `Num` keys and `String` values
let m = { 1: '0x01', 0: '0x00' }

Syntax

Not all of the syntax is currently supported

Declarations

let num = 73

let [t, f] = [true, false]

let (x, y) = (21, 'fhtagn')

Decision making

-- the good ol' `if-else`
if condition {
  -- ..
}
else {
  -- ..
}

-- ..or a slightly different version
-- this is equivalent to a chain of `if/else if/else` statements
if {
| condition1 -> routine1(),
| condition2 && condition3 -> routine2(),
| _ -> fallback(), -- a fallthrough is necessary
}

-- ..or standard pattern matching
let lvl = match tup {
| (1, 8) -> 1,
| (x, y) when x % y == 0 -> 2,
| _ -> 3
}

Functions

-- parameters are listed after `:`, separated by `,`
factorial: x -> {
  if {
  | x < 2 -> 1,
  | _     -> factorial(x - 1)
  }
}

sum: x, y -> {
  let z = x + y

  -- functions return the last expression in their block
  z
}

-- functions without parameters are written as
two {
  let x = 2
}

-- ..and are ivoked as
two()

-- ..thus being used to represent a lazily initialized value