Language tour¶

This page is a practical tour of the syntax you actually see in Novus projects.

Modules and imports¶

module example;

import lib/std std;
import lib/window/main window;

Variables and basic types¶

let name: str = "Novus";
let count: i32 = 3;
let big: i64 = 999999;
let ready: bool = true;

The ecosystem strongly prefers explicit integer sizes like i32 and i64.

Functions¶

fn greet(name: str) -> void {
    print("Hello " + name);
}

Functions can return values:

fn add(a: i32, b: i32) -> i32 {
    return a + b;
}

Overloading¶

Novus supports function overloading when parameter types differ.

fn label(value: i32) -> str {
    return "number";
}

fn label(value: str) -> str {
    return "text";
}

Conditionals¶

if (count > 0) {
    print("positive");
}

Loops¶

let i: i32 = 0;
while (i < 3) {
    print("loop");
    i = i + 1;
}

Strings¶

let msg: str = "Hello";
let joined: str = msg + " world";
let size: i32 = len(joined);

Arrays¶

let xs: []i32 = [10, 20, 30];
array_append(xs, 40);
let first: i32 = xs[0];

Conditional compilation¶

Novus uses #if(...) for compile-time platform selection.

#if(os == "darwin") {
    import platforms/darwin/arm64;
}

#if(os == "linux") {
    import platforms/linux/common;
}

You will see this constantly in official libraries.

Common conditions¶

#if(os == "darwin")
#if(os == "linux")
#if(os == "windows")
#if(arch == "arm64")
#if(arch == "amd64")
#if(arch == "x86")

Builtins versus libraries¶

Some things are compiler builtins:

len
array_append
mov
getreg
syscall
ptr

Most everyday work should still go through libraries such as std, file_io, window, net, or physics.

A complete small example¶

module example;

import lib/std std;

fn describe(value: i32) -> str {
    return "number " + std.to_str(value);
}

fn describe(value: str) -> str {
    return "text " + value;
}

fn main() -> i32 {
    let xs: []i32 = [1, 2, 3];
    std.print(describe(std.len(xs)));
    std.print(describe("ready"));
    std.exit(0);
    return 0;
}