NBCL Documentation

Appearance

Functions ​

Definition ​

Defining functions in NBCl is pretty similar to other languages. Here is an example:

nbl
fn say_hello(name) {
    print("Hello, " + name)
}

say_hello("Jhon")
json
"Hello, Jhon"
=> {
  "root_nodes": []
}

The fn keyword is used to define a function. This keyword should be followed by the function name, and then the function parameters in parenthesis, which in this case is (name).

You can also enforce a data type to the parameters. Like so:

nbl
fn say_hello(name)            
fn say_hello(name: String) {  
    print("Hello, " + name)
}

Special Call Feature ​

Nbcl has a special function call feature, inspired from rhai, which allows functions to also behave like methods. The function automatically becomes a method of the first parameter.

nbl
fn is(name, age) {
    print(name + " is " + age + " years old")
}

Take this function as an example. You can call it like so:

nbl
is("Jhon", "20")

But this feature makes it so that this also works:

nbl
"Jhon".is("20")

This feature is not exclusive to user defined functions only. The same behavior is present with built-in functions too. Here is an example:

nbl
"Hello, World".print()

Return Types ​

NBCL has two types of return. Explicit return, and Implicit return. Returning with an explicit return keyword is called an explicit return. And automatically returning something is called an implicit return. If an expression or a node is found at the end of a script, then it is considered an implicit return.

nbl
# Explicit
fn get_pi() {
    return 3.14159
}

# Implicit
fn get_e() {
    2.7182
}

Regarding Nodes ​

Inside a function, you also have the ability to return Nodes. It looks something like this:

nbl
fn give_children() {
    Object "children" {
        Object {}
        Object {}
        Object {}
    }
}

Object "example" {
    give_children()
}
json
=> {
  "root_nodes": [
    {
      "type_name": "Object",
      "id": "example",
      "props": {},
      "children": [
        {
          "type_name": "Object",
          "id": "children",
          "props": {},
          "children": [
            {
              "type_name": "Object",
              "id": null,
              "props": {},
              "children": []
            },
            {
              "type_name": "Object",
              "id": null,
              "props": {},
              "children": []
            },
            {
              "type_name": "Object",
              "id": null,
              "props": {},
              "children": []
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}