Dyvil Language Reference
Search…
⌃K

Basic Types

The top type: any

Since there is no real super type of reference types and primitive types in the JVM, any is the semantic equivalent of java.lang.Object. That implies that boxing is required to correctly support primitive values. An variable such as
let a: any = 10
gets converted to the Java equivalent, which requires boxing to the java.lang.Integer class:
Object a = Integer.valueOf(10)

The bottom type: none

Similar to how any is the super-type of every other type, none is the sub-type of every type. An expression of type none can thus be assigned to any other type. Every throw statement has this type, and functions that always throw an exception or error can also use it to indicate this property.
func error() -> none = throw new Error()
​
var i: int = 10
i = error() // valid
​
var s: String = error() // valid

The null type: null

When the compiler tries to infer the type of an expression that evaluates to null during compile-time (usually null itself), the null type gets inferred. For example, a variable such as
var n = null
Gets inferred to:
var n: null = null
Since the only value that is compatible with the null type is null itself, it is not possible to assign any other value to the variable n.
n = "a" // compilation error - incompatible types
You can use null as the parameter or return type of a function. Expressions of type null can be assigned to Optional or Implicitly Unwrapped Optional Types:
var value: String? = null
​
func action() -> null { ...; null }
​
value = action()

The Unit Type: void

The Unit Type void is a special data type in Java and Dyvil that is used to indicate that a function returns no value. It cannot be used as the type of a parameter, field or property.
func action() -> void { ... }
​
let a = action() // invalid - inferred type 'void' cannot be used as a variable type
​
let v: void = ??? // invalid

Primitive Data Types

The following primitive types are supported in Dyvil:
Name
Bits / Bytes
Signed
Floating-Point
Wrapper Class
boolean
1 / 1
-
-
java.lang.Boolean
byte
8 / 1
yes
no
java.lang.Byte
short
16 / 2
yes
no
java.lang.Short
char
16 / 2
no
no
java.lang.Character
int
32 / 4
yes
no
java.lang.Integer
long
64 / 8
yes
no
java.lang.Long
float
32 / 4
yes
yes
java.lang.Float
double
64 / 8
yes
yes
java.lang.Double
Primitive Types share the same properties as primitive types in Java. However, there is one important difference: They can be used as generic type arguments, such as List<int>. This is only syntactic sugar though, as it will be converted to List<Int> at runtime, thus not eliminating the need for boxed values.
Previous
Types
Next
Object Types
Last modified 4yr ago