Month August 2023

In Argentum optional type can wrap any type, including another Optional. This theoretically allows having types like ?int, ??int, ???int, and so on. Why is this needed? For instance, when accessing a container of bool or optional elements, it’s necessary…

In Argentum all standard containers, return optionals (?T) when indexed with x[i]. Therefore, Argentum makes it impossible to access beyond the array bounds or using an invalid key in associative containers. It not only helps to prevent OOB errors. It…

In Argentum, associative reference (also known as weak) is one of fundamental built-in types. Such reference is easily created, copied, passed, and stored. It is not a pointer, it is rather a Schrodinger box that may or may not have…

In Argentum typecast operator has syntax: expression ~ ClassOrInterface. It performs two types of type castings. Unlike casts in Java and C++, where it is not required to check the typecast result, in Argentum, it is syntactically impossible to access…

There are four reasons for having = for variable introduction and := for mutation:

In short expressions, the name “_” is readable and appropriate. However, in larger constructs, it can become problematic and conflicting, especially if multiple “?” operators are nested within each other. Actually the ?-operator expects its RHS operand to be a…

In many languages it’s considered OK to have non-bool values in if statement conditions. Python has 16+ different values and scenarios when objects of different types are considered false, Java Script – 9, C++ – 3. Rust allows to define…

TLDR; in Argentum there is no separate nullable, bool and optional types. It’s the same concept, thus all operations, guaranties and safety measures are uniformly and seamlessly applicable all of them. Nowadays, it has become fashionable to add Null safety to all programming languages. In Argentum,…

What values can hold optional<T>? It’s either the value T itself or a special value “nothing” that doesn’t match any values of T . Now let’s try a trick: what is optional<void>? It’s a single-bit value that distinguishes between “nothing”…

In Argentum, there is an operator {A; B; C}, which executes A, B, and C sequentially, returning the result of C. Blocks can group multiple expressions: Blocks allow local variables: Blocks can appear in any expressions, for example in a variable initializer. Note the absence of…