Introduction

SAMLANG is a statically-typed functional programming language designed and implemented by Sam Zhou. The language is still under development so the syntax and semantics may be changed at any time.

The language is designed to be compiled down to TypeScript/JavaScript and Java. However, the Java compiler has not been implemented yet.

Program Layout

Here is an example program:

class HelloWorld(message: string) {

    method getMessage(): string =
        val { message } = this;
        message

    public function getGlobalMessage(): string =
        val hw = { message: "Hello World" };
        hw::getMessage()

}

class Main {

    function main(): string = HelloWorld::getGlobalMessage()

}

A module contains a list of classes, and a class can either be a normal class or utility class, which will be explained later. If there is a module named Main and the module contains a no-arg function main, then the entire program will be evaluated to the evaluation result of the function call Main.main(). If there is no such module, then the evaluation result will be unit.

Each .sam source file defines a module. You can use a different module's classes by import

import { ClassA, ClassB } from Foo.Bar.Module
import { ClassC, ClassD } from Baz.Foo.Module

class ClassD {
    function main(): int = ClassA::value() + ClassC::value()
}

Cyclic dependencies and mutual recursion between different classes are allowed. However, cyclic dependencies between modules are strictly prohibited.