JAL manual - language - expressions

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elements

An expression is constructed from literals, identifiers, function calls and operators. An identifier can identify a constant, a variable or (within a subprogram) a formal parameter.


operators

The predefined operators are:

operator priority interpretation left argument right argument result
! 5 monadic not bit bit
! 5 monadic not byte byte
+ 5 monadic plus byte byte
- 5 monadic minus byte byte
* 4 multiplication byte byte byte
/ 4 division byte byte byte
% 4 modulo byte byte byte
+ 3 plus byte byte byte
- 3 minus byte byte byte
<< 2 shift left byte byte byte
>> 2 shift right byte byte byte
> 2 larger than byte byte bit
< 2 less than byte byte bit
>= 2 larger than or equal byte byte bit
< = 2 less than or equal byte byte bit
== 2 equal byte byte bit
!= 2 not equal byte byte bit
& 1 and bit bit bit
& 1 and byte byte byte
| 1 or bit bit bit
| 1 or byte byte byte
^ 1 xor bit bit bit
^ 1 xor byte byte byte

The operators which are predefined can (for the same arguments) not be redeclared, so these operators have a fixed meaning. Other operators can be declared and redeclared by the user.

All operators which operate on bytes can also operate on universals. When the result from byte arguments is byte, the result from univeral arguments will be universal. When the result from byte arguments is bit, the result from univeral arguments will also be bit.

examples:

   var byte a = 1 << n
   if ( a > b ) | ( c < d ) | ( x != y ) then 
      x = ( x & 0b_1100_0011 ) | 0b_0001_0100
   end if


priority

Braces can be used to force the association, otherwise the operator's associate with their arguments according to operator's priority. For operators of equal priority the leftmost operator gets higher precedence.

examples:

   var byte x = ! a + b   -- is ( ! a ) + b
   var y = ! ( a + b )   -- () used to force another interpretation


order of evaluation

The order in which independent parts of an expression are evaluated is not defined. A part of an expression might be evaluated more than once, a part which has no influence on the overall value of an expression might not be evaluated at all. Functions with side effects can make this behaviour noticable.

examples:

   var byte n = 1
   function f return byte is
      n = n + 1
      return 3
   end function

   function g return byte is
      n = 2 * n
      return 4
   end function

   var byte a = f + g

   if n == 4 then
      -- might be executed, but don't count on it
   end if

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