Declaration

A declaration is used to declare a variable for use in a program but without specifying what its value is. Sentient programs are declarative and so the values of their variables are not determined until the program runs.

A declaration is comprised of a type definition and the names of one or more variables. Here is an example:

int a, b, c;

Valid types are one of int, bool and array. By default, integers range between -128 and 127, but this can be made bigger (or smaller) by specifying the number of bits after the type. An int10, for example, will range between -512 and 511.

int10 a, b, c;

Declaring an array is a little more complicated. The size of the array must be specified in the type definition in addition to the type of its elements. Arrays are homogeneous, which means that its elements must all be the same type. Here are some examples:

array3<bool> myArray;

array4<int> fourInts;

array5<int20> fiveBigInts;

Nested arrays are supported. These declarations look a little more complicated. The example below declares a structure that would be suitable for holding some coordinates:

array10<array2<int>> points;