Pascar: A Programming Language that has Pascal-like Syntaxes

Pascar is yet another statically typed programming language. Pascar has:

Powerful Type System
- based on Hindley-Milner type system
- support object system based on row polymorphism
Lexically-scoped Variables
First-class Functions
String Interpolation
- found in Ruby, Scala, Kotlin, etc.
Loop Expression
Space-sensitive and Line-sensitive Syntax
- list literals
- map literals
- set literals
, etc.

Pascar's syntax is heavily inspired by Pascal.

Instalattion and Quick Start

It requires Java 8 or later.

You can download the binary distribution (executable jar) from the release page. Put the file on an directory and execute the pascar.jar by java -jar command:

$ java -jar pascar.jar

Usage: java -jar pascar.jar (-f <fileName> | -e <expression>)
<fileName>   : read a program from <fileName> and execute it
-e <expression> : evaluate <expression>

Write the folowing lines and save it to hello.pascar.

writeln('Hello, World!')

And run the interpreter by java -jar pascar.jar hello.pascar:

$ java -jar pascar.jar hello.pascar

Hello, World!

Syntax

Variable Declaration

var one = 1

Declare variable one and one is bound to 1. You can omit semicolon(;) at the last of the declaration:

var name = expression [;]

Constant Declaration

const name = expression [;]

Declared constant 'one_immutable' is bound to '2'. You can omit semicolo (:) at the last of the declarat ion:

You can use type annotaion as you like:

var name: String = 'FOO'

If Expression

The syntax of if expression is like Pascal:

if i < 3 then
  writeln('i < 3')
else
  writeln('i >= 3')
end

While Expression

Thke syntax of while expression is like Pascal:

var i = 0
while i < 10 do
begin
  i := i + 1
  writeln(i)
end

Function Literal

var add = (x, y) => x + y

Declare variable add and add is bounded to the function literal that calculates x + y. If an anonymous function has block body, you can write as the following:

var printAndAdd = (x, y) => {
  writeln(x)
  writeln(y)
  x + y
}

Note that semicolon at the end of each expression of block can be omitted.

Named Function

If you want to define recursive functions, anonymous function literal cannot be used. Instead, you can use the notation for recursive functions:

function fact(n)
begin
  if n < 2 then 
    1 
  else 
    n * fact(n - 1) 
  end
end
fact(0) // 1
fact(1) // 1
fact(2) // 2
fact(3) // 6
fact(4) // 24
fact(5) // 120
// The result of type inference of fact is : Int => Int

Function Invocation

const add = (x, y) => x + y
writeln(add(1, 2))

A function can be invoked as the form fun(p1, p2, ..., pn). The evaluation result of fun must be a function object.

List Literal

const list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
writeln(list)

A list literal can be expressed as the form [e1, e2, ...,en]. Note that separator characters have also line feeds and spaces in Klassic unlike other programming languages.

const list = [
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
]
writeln(list)
var list = [[1 2 3]
            [4 5 6]
            [7 8 9]]

The type of list literal is a instance of special type constructor List<'a>.

Map Literal

const map = %['A': 1, 'B': 2]
map Map#get 'A' // => 1
map Map#get 'B' // => 2
map Map#get 'C' // => null

A map literal can be expressed as the form %[k1:v1, ..., kn:vn] (kn and vn are expressions). Note that separator characters also include line feeds and spaces in Klassic unlike other programmign languages:

const map2 = %[
  'A' : 1
  'b' : 2
]

The type of map literal is a instance of special type constructor Map<'k, 'v>.

Set Literal

A map literal can be expressed as the form %(v1, ..., vn) (vn are expressions). Note that separator characters also include line feeds and spaces in Klassic unlike other programmign languages:

const set1 = %(1, 2, 3)

const set2 = %(1 2 3) // space is omitted

const set3 = %(
  1
  2
  3
)

The type of set literal is a instance of special type constructor Set<'a>.

Numeric Literal

Pascar supports various literal. The followings are explanations:

Int

writeln(100)
writeln(200)
writeln(300)

The max value of Int literals is Int.MaxValue in Scala and the min value of integer literals is Int.MinValue in Scala.

Byte

The suffix of byte literal is BY. The max value of long literals is Byte.MaxValue in Scala and the min value of long literals is Byte.MinValue in Scala.

writeln(127BY)
writeln(-127BY)
writeln(100BY)

Short

The suffix of short literal is S. The max value of long literals is Short.MaxValue in Scala and the min value of long literals is Short.MinValue in Scala.

writeln(100S)
writeln(200S)
writeln(300S)

Long

writeln(100L)
writeln(200L)
writeln(300L)

The suffix of long literal is L. The max value of long literals is Long.MaxValue in Scala and the min value of long literals is Long.MinValue in Scala.

Double

writeln(1.0)
writeln(1.5)

The max value of double literal is Double.MaxValue in Scala and the min value of double literal is Double.MinValue in Scala.

Float

writeln(1.0F)
writeln(1.5F)

The max value of float literal is Float.MaxValue in Scala and the min value of float literal is Float.MinValue in Scala.

Comment

Pascar provides two kinds of comment

(Nestable) Block Comment

1 + (* nested
  (* comment */ here *) 2 // => 3

Line comment

1 + // comment
    2 // => 3

Type System

Pascar is a statically-typed programming language.

Hindley-Milner Type Inference

Pascar's type inference is based on HM. It means that type annotations is not required in many cases:

function fold_left(list) 
begin
  (z) => (f) => {
    If isEmpty(list) Then z Else fold_left(tail(list))(f(z, head(list)))(f) End If
  }
end
// The result of type inference: List<'a> => 'b => (('b, 'a) => 'b) => 'b

Row Polymorphism

Pascar has simple object system based on row polymorphism. For example,

function add(o)
begin
  o.x + o.y
end

the type of above program is inferred:

add: { x: Int; y: Int; ... }

It means that add function accepts any object that has field x and field y. Although it is not subtyping strictly, many situations that need subtyping are covered.

Type Cast

In some cases, escape hatches from type system are required. In such cases, user can insert cast explicitly.

var s: * = (100 :> Double) // 100 is casted to Double type

Built-in Functions

Pascar supports some kind of built-in functions.

Standard output Functions

writeln: (param:Any) => Any
display the param into the standard output.
```
writeln('Hello, World!')
```

String Functions

substring: (s:String, begin:Int, end:Int) => String
Returns a substring of the String s. The substring begins at the index begin and ends at the index end - 1.
```
substring('FOO', 0, 1) // => 'F'
```
at: (s:String, index:Int) => String
Returns a String with a character value at the index index of the String s.
```
at('BAR', 2) // => 'R'
```
matches: (s:String, regex:String) => Boolean
Returns true if the String s matches the regular expression regex, false otherwise.
```
val pattern = '[0-9]+'
matches('199', pattern) // => true
matches('a', pattern)   // => false
```

Numeric Functions

sqrt: (value:Double) => Double
Returns the square root of the Double value.
```
sqrt(2.0) // => 1.4142135623730951
sqrt(9.0) // => 3.0
```
int: (vaue:Double) => Int
Returns the Double value as the Int value.
```
int(3.14159265359) // => 3
```
double: (value:Int) => Double
Returns the Int value as the Double value.
```
double(10) // => 10.0
```
floor: (value:Double) => Int
Returns the truncated Double value as the Int value.
```
floor(1.5) // => 1
floor(-1.5) // => -1
```

ceil: (value:Double) => Int
Returns the rounded-up Double value as the Int value.

ceil(4.4)  // => 5
ceil(4.5)  // => 5
ceil(-4.4) // => -4
ceil(-4.5) // => -4

abs: (value:Double) => Double
Returns the absolute value of the Double value.
```
abs(10.5)  // => 10.5
abs(-10.5) // => 10.5
```

List Functions

map: (list:List<'a>) => (fun:('a) => 'b) => List<'b>
Returns a new List consisting of the results of applying the given function fun to the elements of the given List list.
```
map([1 2 3])((x) => x + 1) // => [2 3 4]
map([2 3 4]){x => x + 1}   // => [3 4 5]
```
head: (list:List<'a>) => List<'a>
Returns the first element of the List list.
```
head([1 2 3 4]) // => 1
```
tail: (list:List<'a>) => List<'a>
Returns a new List consisting of the elements of the given List list except for the first element.
```
tail([1 2 3 4]) // => [2 3 4]
```
cons: (value:'a) => (list:List<'a>) => List<'a>
Creates a new List, the head of which is value and the tail of which is list.
```
cons(1)([2 3 4]) // => [1 2 3 4]
```
size: (list:List<'a>) => Int
Returns the size of the List list.
```
size([1 2 3 4 5]) // => 5
```
isEmpty: (list:List<'a>) => Boolean
Returns true if the List list is empty, false otherwise.
```
isEmpty([])       // => true
isEmpty([1 2 3])  // => false
```

foldLeft: (list:List<'a>) => (acc:'b) => (fun:('b, 'a) => 'b) => 'b
Applies a function fun to a start value acc and all elements of the List list, going left to right.

foldLeft([1 2 3 4])(0)((x, y) => x + y)         // => 10
foldLeft([1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0])(0.0){x, y => x + y} // => 10.0
foldLeft([1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0])(1.0){x, y => x * y} // => 24.0

Thread Functions

thread: (fun:() => Unit) => Unit
Creates a new thread and starts runnng the passed argument function fun asynchronously.

thread(() => {
  sleep(1000)
  writeln('Hello from another thread.')
})
writeln('Hello from main thread.')
// => 'Hello from main thread.'
// => 'Hello from another thread.'

sleep: (millis:Int) => Unit
Causes the current thread to sleep for the millis milliseconds.
```
sleep(1000)
```

Utility Functions

stopwatch: (fun:() => Unit) => Int
Returns the time in milliseconds taken to evaluate the passed argument function fun.
```
val time = stopwatch( => {
  sleep(1000)
  writeln('1')
})
writeln('it took #{time} milli seconds')
```
ToDo: () => Unit
Throws pascar.runtime.NotImplementedError when evaluated.
```
ToDo()  // => throw NotImplementedError
```

Assertion Functions

assert: (condition:Boolean) => Unit
Asserts that the condtion should be true, and throws pascar.runtime.AssertionError if the condition is false.
```
assert(2 == 1 + 1)  // => OK
assert(3 > 5)       // => NG: AssertionError
```
assertResult: (expected:Any)(actual:Any) => Unit
Asserts that the actual value should be equal to the expected value, and throws pascar.runtime.AssertionError if the actual value is not equal to the expected value.
```
val add = (x, y) => {
  x + y
}
assertResult(5)(add(2, 3))  // => OK
assertResult(2)(add(1, 2))  // => NG: AssertionError
```

Interoperating Functions

url: (value:String) => java.net.URL
Creates new java.net.URL object from a String value.
```
url('https://github.com/pascar/pascar')
```
uri: (value:String) => java.net.URI
Creates new java.net.URI object from a String value.
```
uri('https://github.com/pascar/pascar')
```
desktop: () => java.awt.Desktop
Returns the Desktop instance of the current browser context via Java Desktop API.
```
desktop()->browse(uri('https://github.com/pascar/pascar'))
```

kmizu / pascar