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Dust Language Reference
!!! This is a work in progress and has incomplete information. !!!
Dust is a general purpose, interpreted and strictly typed language with first-class functions. This guide is an in-depth description of the abstractions and concepts that are used to implement the language.
Dust aims to be panic-free. That means that the interpreter will only fail to run a program due to an intended error, such as a type error or a syntax error.
Values
There are ten kinds of value in Dust. Some are very simple and are parsed directly from the source code, some are collections and others are used in special ways, like functions and structures. All values can be assinged to an identifier.
Dust does not have a null type. Absent values are represented with the none value, which is a kind of option. You may not create a variable without a value and no variable can ever be in an 'undefined' state during execution.
Boolean
Booleans are true or false. They are represented by the literal tokens true and false.
Integer
Integers are whole numbers that may be positive, negative or zero. Internally, each integer is a signed 64-bit value. Integers always overflow when their maximum or minimum value is reached. Overflowing means that if the value is too high or low for the 64-bit integer, it will wrap around. So maximum_value + 1 yields the minimum value and minimum_value - 1 yields the maximum value.
42
Float
A float is a numeric value with a decimal. Floats are 64-bit and, like integers, will overflow at their bounds.
42.0
Range
TODO
String
A string is a utf-8 sequence used to represent text. Strings can be wrapped in single or double quotes as well as backticks.
'42'
"42"
`42`
'forty-two'
List
A list is collection of values stored as a sequence and accessible by indexing their position with an integer. Lists indexes begin at zero for the first item.
[ 42 'forty-two' ]
[ 123, 'one', 'two', 'three' ]
Note that the commas are optional, including trailing commas.
[1 2 3 4 5]:2
# Output: 3
Map
Maps are flexible collections with arbitrary key-value pairs, similar to JSON objects. A map is created with a pair of curly braces and its entries are variables declared inside those braces. Map contents can be accessed using a colon :. Commas may optionally be included after the key-value pairs.
reminder = {
message = "Buy milk"
tags = ["groceries", "home"]
}
reminder:message
# Output: Buy milk
Internally a map is represented by a b-tree. The implicit advantage of using a b-tree instead of a hash map is that a b-tree is sorted and therefore can be easily compared to another. Maps are also used by the interpreter as the data structure for a context.
The map stores an identifier's key, the value it represents and the value's type. For internal use by the interpreter, a type can be set to a key without a value. This makes it possible to check the types of values before they are computed.
Function
Functions are first-class values in Dust, so they are assigned to variables like any other value.
# This simple function has no arguments and no return value.
say_hi = () <none> {
output("hi") # The "output" function is a built-in that prints to stdout.
}
# This function has one argument and will return a value.
add_one = (number <num>) <num> {
number + 1
}
say_hi()
assert_equal(add_one(3), 4)
You don't need commas when listing arguments and you don't need to add whitespace inside the function body but doing so may make your code easier to read.
Option
An option represents a value that may not be present. It has two variants: some and none.
say_something = (message <option(str)>) <str> {
either_or(message, "hiya")
}
say_something(some("goodbye"))
# goodbye
say_something(none)
# hiya
Dust includes built-in functions to work with option values: is_none, is_some and either_or.
Structure
A structure is an concrete type value. It is a value, like any other, and can be assigned to an identifier. It can also be instantiated as a map that will only allow the variables present in the structure. Default values may be provided for each variable in the structure, which will be propagated to the map it creates. Values without defaults must be given a value during instantiation.
struct User {
name <str>
email <str>
id <int> = generate_id()
}
bob = new User {
name = "Bob"
email = "bob@example.com"
}
# The variable "bob" is a structured map.
A map created by using new is called a structured map. In other languages it may be called a "homomorphic mapped type". Dust will generate errors if you try to set any values on the structured map that are not allowed by the structure.
Types
Dust enforces strict type checking. To make the language easier to write, type inference is used to allow variables to be declared without specifying the type. Instead, the interpreter will figure it out and set the strictest type possible.
To make the type-setting syntax easier to distinguish from the rest of your code, a type specification is wrapped in pointed brackets. So variable assignment using types looks like this:
my_float <float> = 666.0
Basic Types
The simple types, and their notation are:
- boolean
bool - integer
int - float
float - string
str
Number
The number type may represent a value of type int or float.
Any
The any type does not enforce type bounds.
None
The none type indicates that no value should be found after executing the statement or block, with one expection: the none variant of the option type.
List and List Contents
Unstructured Map
Function Types
A function's type specification is more complex than other types. A function value must always have its arguments and return type specified when the function value is created.
my_function = (number <int>, text <str>) <none> {
output(number)
output(text)
}
But what if we need to specify a function type without creating the function value? This is necessary when using callbacks or defining structures that have functions set at instantiation.
use_adder = (adder <(int) -> int>, number <int>) -> <int> {
adder(number)
}
use_adder(
(i <int>) <int> { i + 2 }
40
)
# Output: 42
struct Message {
send_n_times <(str, int) -> none>
}
stdout_message = new Message {
send_n_times = (content <str>, n <int>) <none> {
for _ in 0..n {
output(content)
}
}
}
Option Type
TODO
Structures
TODO
Statements
TODO
Assignment
TODO
Blocks
TODO
Synchronous Blocks
TODO
Asynchronous Blocks
TODO
Dust features effortless concurrency anywhere in your code. Any block of code can be made to run its contents asynchronously. Dust's concurrency is written in safe Rust and uses a thread pool whose size depends on the number of cores available.
# An async block will run each statement in its own thread.
async {
output(random_integer())
output(random_float())
output(random_boolean())
}
data = async {
output("Reading a file...")
read("examples/assets/faithful.csv")
}
Break
TODO
For Loop
TODO
A for loop operates on a list without mutating it or the items inside. It does not return a value.
list = [ 1, 2, 3 ]
for number in list {
output(number + 1)
}
While Loop
TODO
A while loop continues until a predicate is false.
i = 0
while i < 10 {
output(i)
i += 1
}
If/Else
TODO
Match
TODO
Pipe
TODO
Expression
TODO
Expressions
TODO
Identifier
TODO
Index
TODO
Logic
TODO
Math
TODO
Value
TODO
New
TODO
Command
TODO
Built-In Values
TODO