Types

Types everywhere

The originals only have Int, Float and String (and custom types). BlitzLLVM adds Byte, UByte, Short, UShort, UInt, Long, ULong, Half and Double, and every one of them, as well as String and custom types, works as a Global, a Local, a parameter (with default values), a return type, a field of a Type, a Const and the type of a Dim array. Types are written in the short form with a sign after the name (% Int, %% Long, # Float, ## Double, $ String, .Name custom type) or in the long form with :Type (Count:UInt, Function Now:ULong()). Whole numbers wrap around at the size of their type, so a UByte that is 255 and gets 1 added is 0, and ULong and UInt are never negative. tests/suite/language_types.bb checks the combinations.

The tables of built-in functions in the compiler can use the same types for parameters and return values (b B h H i I l u x f d s), not just i f s.

Void

Void is only a return type, written in the long form (Function Log:Void(message:String)), and there is no short form. A Void function is called as a statement; Return inside of it takes no value, and giving it one is an error. Using a call of it as a value (x = Log("a"), Print Log("a"), Return Log("a")) or in a condition (If, While, Until, Select) is an error, too, because there is nothing to use. Void can not be the type of a parameter, a variable or a field. Without Void, a function that has no Return value still returns an Int, as in the originals.