Variable, initial value

Initial values

When declaring a variable you can immediately assign a value to it. Constants can be declared in both the global and/or local scope. If a variable is declared in a local scope then the compiler actually creates a global constant and assigns the value of that constant to the local variable once the code of the declaration is executed. Constants can also be used as procedure parameters.

Numbers

The most simple constant declaration is a single number constant.

number i = 5 ; This is a global constant...
proc main()
    number j = 10 ; This is a local constant...
    printN(i)
    printN(j)
end

Number array

You can also declare a list of numbers called an array. The number of values in the constant list has to match the size of the declared array. The following array shows an array declaration of 3 numbers with a matching constant array:

number a[3] = [724, 3565, 9269] ; This is a global number array...
proc main()
    printN(a[0])
    printN(a[1])
    printN(a[2])
end

Constant array paramters

A constant array can also be passed as a parameter to a procedure.

#include "lib/modules/standard.whl"
; This procedure prints the contents of an array with four numbers...
proc printMyArray(number a[4])
    number i
    for i = 0 to 3
        printN(a[i])
    end
end
proc main()
    printMyArray([4, 7, 8, 12])
end

Records

A record variable can also be assigned an initial value.

; Declare a record type
record Point
    number x, y
end
; Now we can declare a variable and immediately assign a value:
Point point = {12, 13}
proc main()
    printN(point.x)
    printN(point.y)
end

Record array

Of course we can combine records and arrays when declaring variables and constants.

; Declare a record type
record Point
    number x, y
end
proc main()
    ; A local record array:
    Point p[2] = [{34, 834}, {45, 167}]
end