= Literals =

Cobra provides a convenient way to specify literals for initializing standard collections and [[BR]]
explicitly setting the types (size and sign) for numeric literals.

== List Literals ==
Dynamically sized heterogenous content data structures.

List contents are comma separated, collection  is [] delimited.

Empty list is []

e.g 
{{{
#!cobra
names = [ 'mike', 'gary', 'pat', 'bruce', 'paul'] # List<of String>
heads = [3,1,1,1,1] # List<of int>
if name in [ 'fred', 'george', 'bill' ]

myList=[]
myList.add('1th')
}}}

== !Map/Dictionary Literals ==
Also known as associative arrays or Dictionaries (Dicts).[[BR]]

Key and value is colon separated, each entry comma separated, collection is {} delimited.

empty map is {:}.

e.g.
{{{
#!cobra
nameId = { 'mike':10110, 'gary':21003, 'paul':32289 }  # Dictionary<of String, int>
assert nameId['mike'] == 10110

order = { 0:'mike', 1:'bruce', 2:'gary', 3:'pat' } # Dictionary<of int, String>

mmap = {:}
mmap['top'] = 99
}}}

== Set Literals ==
Unordered hashed collection of unique items optimized for membership testing and set operations.

Values are comma separated, collection is {} delimited.

Empty set is {}.

e.g.
{{{
#!cobra
names= {'gary', 'mike', 'bruce', 'paul'}
assert names.intersection({'gary', 'paul'} == {'gary', 'paul'}
assert not names.isSuperSetOf({'paula'})

collisions={}
collisions.add(toyota)

}}}


== Array Literals ==
Statically sized homogenous content data structure.

Values are comma separated, collection is [] delimited with an '@' prefix.

Empty array is @[]

e.g 
{{{
#!cobra
names = @[ 'mike', 'gary', 'pat', 'bruce', 'paul'] # String[] or Array<of String>
heads = @[3,1,1,1,1] # int[] or Array <of int>
heads[4] = 3

}}}

Lists are probably easier to use and more flexible but for some purposes arrays have better performance.

== Numeric Literals ==

Non explicitly typed numeric literals are typed to Decimal by default.[[BR]]
This can be overidden by the compiler '''-number''' commandline switch or '''@number''' compiler  directive.

Explicitly typed numeric literals can be specified by suffixing the numeric literal with a type and size specification ( with an optional leading '_').


Types are
    - u - unsigned int
    - i - signed int 
    - d - decimal
    - f - float
    

Sizes are 
    - for int
      8, 16, 32, 64
    - for float
      32, 64
as in 

{{{
#!cobra
d = 123      # default (Decimal)
d = 123.4d

ii = 123i    # integer (default size) 32 bits
# same as 
ii = 123 to int

j = 123_i16  #  signed 16 bit
k = 32u8     #  unsigned 8 bit == Byte

l = 879289992978_i64 # signed 64 bit 

f = 1327.3_f # float (default size 64)
f1 = 97.3f32 # or
f1 = 97.3_f32
}}}

== String and Char Literals ==

See [wiki:Strings]



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