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Language

This chapter defines the m programming language. m is a procedural language supporting code reuse through a simple concept of modules.

The following sections introduce the building blocks of m. After each section, the m syntax is summarized by a formal definition in EBNF (Extended Backus Naur Form):

• Text in single quotes '' corresponds to the actual text (terminal symbols).
• Text in bold face denotes keywords (reserved words).
• The vertical bar | separates alternatives.
• Text in brackets [] is optional.
• Text in curly braces {} can be repeated (zero times, once or many times).
• Text in parentheses () is grouped together.

m scripts are read as a series of tokens which are separated by "separator" characters (all characters which are not letters, digits or an underscore). White space (blank and new line) always separates two characters. The amount of white space used does not affect the meaning of a script, but white space should be added sensibly to make a script more readable by indenting lines to reflect the structure of the code.

• Data Types
• Comments
• Literals
  • Number Literals
  • String Literals
  • Boolean Literals
  • Function Literals
  • Null Literal
• Variables
• Arrays
  • Associative Arrays
• Expressions
  • Operands
  • Operation Precedence
  • Arithmetic Operators
  • Bitwise Operators
  • Concatenation Operator
  • Comparison Operators
  • Class Instance Tests
  • Boolean Operators
• Statements
  • Assignments
  • Increment
  • If Statement
  • While Statement
  • Do-Until Statement
  • For Statement
  • Case Statement
  • Break Statement
  • Return Statement
  • print Statement
• Functions
  • Optional Parameters
  • Forward Declaration
  • Function References
• Modules
  • Module Search Order
  • Module Prefixes
  • Module Version
  • Optional Modules
• Exceptions
  • Catching Exceptions
  • Throwing Exceptions
• Object Oriented Programming
  • Classes and Class Instances
  • Variable Declarations, revisited
  • Function Declarations, revisited
  • Class Fields
  • Class Functions
  • Inheritance, Sub- and Superclasses
  • Instance Creation and Constructors
  • The .Instance Base Class
  • Instance Function References
• Source Structure

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