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EOL Syntax Updates

The following is a brief description of changes to the Epsilon Object Language's syntax in each release.

2.2

  • Tuple type. Similar to a Map with String keys, but its properties can be accessed like a regular object (using the . operator).

  • Assign if null operator ?= as convenient shorthand for a = a ?: b, that is: a = a <> null ? a : b.

2.1

  • Elvis operator as a convenient shorthand to use an alternative value if an expression is null. a ?: b is a concise way of writing a <> null ? a else b.

  • Null-safe navigation operator to allow for easy chaining of feature calls without resorting to null checks. For example, null?.getClass()?.getName() will return null without crashing.

  • != can be used as an alias for <> (i.e. "not equals").

2.0

  • Ternary expressions, which can be used almost anywhere, not just in assignments or returns. Syntax and semantics are identical to Java, but you can also use the else keyword in place of the : if you prefer.
  • Native lambda expressions. You can use first-order operation syntax or JavaScript-style => for invoking functional interfaces.
  • Removed old-style OCL comments (-* and --).
  • -- can be used to decrement integers.
  • Thread-safe collection types: ConcurrentBag, ConcurrentMap and ConcurrentSet.

1.4

  • Added support for postfix increment operator (i.e. i++) and for composite assignment statements (i.e. a +=1; a -= 2; a *= 3; a /= 4;)

0.9.1

  • Added support for externally defined variables.
  • Support for Map literal expressions (e.g. Map {key1 = value1, k2 = v2})

0.8.8

In 0.8.8 we extended the syntax of EOL so that it looks and feels a bit more like Java. As the majority of Eclipse/EMF audience are Java programmers, this will hopefully make their (and our) lives a bit easier. Of course, all these changes also affect all languages built on top of EOL.

More specifically, we have introduced:

  • double quotes (" ") for string literals,
  • backticks (` `) for reserved words,
  • Java-like comments (// and /**/),
  • == as a comparison operator,
  • = as an assignment operator (in 0.8.7)

All these changes (except for the double quotes which have now been replaced by ` `) are non-breaking: the old syntax ('' for strings, = for comparison and := for assignment still work). Below is an example demonstrating the new syntax:

/*
 This is a multi line comment
*/
// This is a single line comment
var i = 1;
if (i == 1) {
  "Hello World".println();
}

i = 2; // Assigns the value 2 to i

var `variable with spaces` = 3;
`variable with spaces`.println(); // Prints 3

If you have suggestions for further Java-ifications of the EOL syntax, please post your comments to the Epsilon forum or add them to bug 292403.