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Learn Crystal in Y minutes
# Comments start with a hash
# First and foremost: Everything is an object.
# Numbers are objects
3.class # => Int32
3.to_s # => "3"
# Some basic arithmetic
1 + 1 # => 2
8 - 1 # => 7
10 * 2 # => 20
35 / 5 # => 7
2**5 # => 32
# Arithmetic is just syntactic sugar
# for calling a method on an object
1.+(3) # => 4
10.* 5 # => 50
# Special values are objects
nil # Nothing to see here
true # truth
false # falsehood
nil.class # => Nil
true.class # => Bool
false.class # => Bool
# Equality
1 == 1 # => true
2 == 1 # => false
# Inequality
1 != 1 # => false
2 != 1 # => true
# apart from false itself, nil is the only other 'falsey' value
!nil # => true
!false # => true
!0 # => false
# More comparisons
1 < 10 # => true
1 > 10 # => false
2 <= 2 # => true
2 >= 2 # => true
# Logical operators
true && false # => false
true || false # => true
!true # => false
# Chars represent a single character, they are created with single quotes
'a'.class # => Char
# Chars can store any unicode codepoint with hexadecimal representation
'\u0041' # => A
'\u{1F52E}' # => 🔮
'single quote are not for Strings' # => unterminated char literal, use double quotes for strings
# Strings are immutable objects, they are a sequence of Chars and they are created using double quotes
"I am a string".class # => String
"This is a string"[0].class # => Char
placeholder = "use string interpolation"
"I can #{placeholder} inside strings"
# => "I can use string interpolation inside strings"
"%s can be %s the %s way" % ["Strings", "interpolated", "old"]
# => Strings can be interpolated the old way
# Combine strings, but not with numbers
"hello " + "world" # => "hello world"
"hello " + 3 # => no overload matches 'String#+' with types Int32
"hello " + 3.to_s # => "hello 3"
# `puts` prints to the output
puts "I'm printing!"
# `pp` prints the expression with its result
pp "Hello" * 2 # => "Hello" * 2 = "HelloHello"
# A Char can be appended to a String object, but not the other way around
"I like " + '\u{1F363}' # => I like 🍣
'\u{1F363}' + "is good" # => undefined method '+' for Char
# Variables
x = 25 # => 25
x # => 25
# Note that assignment returns the value assigned
# This means you can do multiple assignment:
x = y = 10 # => 10
x # => 10
y # => 10
# By convention, use snake_case for variable names
snake_case = true
# Use descriptive variable names
path_to_project_root = "/good/name/"
path = "/bad/name/"
# Integers
# There are 4 signed integer types Int8, Int16, Int32 and Int64
# and 4 unsigned integer types UInt8, UInt16, UInt32 and UInt64
# If unspecified, the literal's type is chosen by the compiler to fit the number
314 # => Int32
9223372036854775808 # => UInt64
# Dashes can be added to improve code readability
1_000_000 # => Int32
# The integer's type can be specified by adding _iXX (signed) or _uXX (unsigned)
10_i8 # Int8
10_u64 # => UInt64
# Binary start with 0b
0b1101 # => 13
# Octal numbers start with 0o
0o123 # => 83
# Hexadecimal numbers start with 0x
0xfa1 # => 4001
# Symbols (are objects)
# Symbols are immutable, reusable constants represented internally by an
# integer (Int32) value.
:pending.class # => Symbol
status = :pending
status == :pending # => true
status == "pending" # => false
status == :approved # => false
# Arrays
# You need to declare in advance what the array will contain with the `of` keyword
array = [] of Int32 # => Array(Int32)
array = [] of SignedInt # => Array(Int8 | Int32 | Int16 | Int64)
array = [] of UnsignedInt # => Array(UInt8 | UInt32 | UInt16 | UInt64)
# This is an array of Int32
array = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] # => [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
array.class # => Array(Int32)
# You can combine types
array = [] of Int32 | String | Float32 # => Array(String | Int32 | Float32)
# Types can also be guessed at declaration time
[1, "hello", false] # => [1, "hello", false]
[1, "hello", false].class # => Array(String | Int32 | Bool)
# Arrays can be indexed
# From the front
array[0] # => 1
array[12] # => IndexError
array[12]? # => nil
# Like arithmetic, [var] access
# is just syntactic sugar
# for calling a method [] on an object
array.[] 0 # => 1
array.[] 12 # => IndexError
array.[]? 12 # => nil
# From the end
array[-1] # => 5
# With a start index and length
array[2, 3] # => [3, 4, 5]
# Or with a range
array[1..3] # => [2, 3, 4]
# Add to an array like this
array << 6 # => [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
# Check if an item exists in an array
array.includes?(1) # => true
# Hashes are Crystal's primary dictionary with keys/value pairs.
# Hashes are denoted with curly braces:
hash = { "color" => "green", "number" => 5 }
hash.class # => Hash(String, String | Int32)
hash.keys # => ['color', 'number']
# Hashes can be quickly looked up by key:
hash["color"] # => "green"
hash["number"] # => 5
# Asking a hash for a key that doesn't exist raises KeyError
# or it returns nil with []?:
hash["nothing here"] # => Missing hash value: "nothing here" KeyError
hash["nothing here"]? # => nil
# Hashes can have symbols as keys
new_hash = { defcon: 3, action: true } # => Hash(Symbol, (Int32 | Bool))
new_hash.keys # => [:defcon, :action]
# Check existence of keys in hash
new_hash.has_key?(:defcon) # => true
# The types of the keys and values must be given when declaring a new hash
hash = {} of Symbol => (Int32 | Bool | String)
hash.merge!({ defcon: 3, action: true })
hash[:color] = "blue"
# => {:defcon => 3, :action => true, :color => "blue"}
hash.merge({ color: "red" })
# => {:defcon => 3, :action => true, :color => "red"}
# Tip: Both Arrays and Hashes are Enumerable
# They share a lot of useful methods such as each, map, count, and more
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].map { |i| i**2 }
# => [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]
# This can be rewritten using the &. notation
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].map(&.**(2))
# => [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]
hash = {"one": 1, "two": 2, "three": 3}
hash.map { |k, v| k.upcase }
# => ["ONE", "TWO", "THREE"]
# Control structures
# if returns the value of the last evaluated block
statement = if true
"if statement"
elsif false
"else if, optional"
else
"else, also optional"
end
puts statement # => if statement
# if and unless can be placed at the end of the expression
"2 equals 2" if 2 == 2
"3 does not equal 2" unless 3 == 2
# The "each" method of a range runs the block once for each element of the range.
# The block is passed a counter as a parameter.
# Calling the "each" method with a block looks like this:
(1..5).each do |counter|
puts "iteration #{counter}"
end
# => iteration 1
# => iteration 2
# => iteration 3
# => iteration 4
# => iteration 5
# You can also surround blocks in curly brackets:
(1..5).each { |counter| puts "iteration #{counter}" }
# The contents of data structures can also be iterated using each.
array.each do |element|
puts "#{element} is part of the array"
end
hash.each do |key, value|
puts "#{key} is #{value}"
end
counter = 1
while counter <= 5
puts "iteration #{counter}"
counter += 1
end
# => iteration 1
# => iteration 2
# => iteration 3
# => iteration 4
# => iteration 5
grade = 'B'
case grade
when 'A'
puts "Way to go kiddo"
when 'B'
puts "Better luck next time"
when 'C'
puts "You can do better"
when 'D'
puts "Scraping through"
when 'F'
puts "You failed!"
else
puts "Alternative grading system, eh?"
end
# => "Better luck next time"
# cases can also use ranges
grade = 82
case grade
when 90..100
puts "Hooray!"
when 80...90
puts "OK job"
else
puts "You failed!"
end
# => "OK job"
# exception handling:
class NoMemoryError < Exception; end
class RuntimeError < Exception; end
begin
# code here that might raise an exception
raise NoMemoryError.new("You ran out of memory.")
rescue exception_variable : NoMemoryError
puts "NoMemoryError was raised", exception_variable
rescue other_exception_variable : RuntimeError
puts "RuntimeError was raised now"
else
puts "This runs if no exceptions were thrown at all"
ensure
puts "This code always runs no matter what"
end
# Functions
def double(x)
x * 2
end
# Functions (and all blocks) implicitly return the value of the last statement
double(2) # => 4
# Parentheses are optional where the result is unambiguous
double 3 # => 6
double double 3 # => 12
def sum(x, y)
x + y
end
# Method arguments are separated by a comma
sum 3, 4 # => 7
sum sum(3, 4), 5 # => 12
# yield
# All methods have an implicit, optional block parameter
# it can be called with the 'yield' keyword
def surround
puts '{'
yield
puts '}'
end
surround { puts "hello world" }
# {
# hello world
# }
# You can pass a list of arguments, which will be converted into a Tuple
# That's what splat operator ("*") is for
def guests(*array)
# array is Tuple(Int32, Int32, Int32)
array.each { |guest| puts guest }
end
guests(1, 2, 3)
# Define a class with the class keyword
class Human
# A class variable. It is shared by all instances of this class.
@@species = "H. sapiens"
# Basic initializer
def initialize(@name, @age = 0)
end
# Basic setter method
def name=(name)
@name = name
end
# Basic getter method
def name
@name
end
# The above functionality can be encapsulated using the attr_accessor method as follows
property name
# Getter/setter methods can also be created individually like this
getter name
setter name
# A class method uses self to distinguish from instance methods.
# It can only be called on the class, not an instance.
def self.say(msg)
puts msg
end
def species
@@species
end
end
# Instantiate a class
rose = Human.new("Tose Tyler")
clara = Human.new("Clara Oswald")
# Let's call a couple of methods
rose.species # => "H. sapiens"
rose.name # => "Rose Tyler"
rose.name = "The Bad Wolf" # => "The Bad Wolf"
rose.name # => "The Bad Wolf"
clara.species # => "H. sapiens"
clara.name # => "Clara Oswald"
# Call the class method
Human.say("Hello humanity") # => "Hello humanity"
module ModuleExample
def foo
"foo"
end
end
# Including modules binds their methods to the class instances
# Extending modules binds their methods to the class itself
class Person
include ModuleExample
end
class Book
extend ModuleExample
end
Person.new.foo # => 'foo'
Book.foo # => 'foo'
Person.foo # => NoMethodError: undefined method `foo' for Person:Class
Book.new.foo # => NoMethodError: undefined method `foo' for Book
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