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Toy/types.md

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# Types
The type system in toy is opt-in, but allows a lot of robust checks at runtime when needed. Types themselves are first-class citizens. To retreive the type of an existing variable, use the `typeof` keyword.
```
print typeof value;
```
The types available are:
| Type | Signature | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| null | null | Represents a lack of any meaningful value |
| boolean | bool | Either true or false |
| integer | int | Any whole number. The limits are implementation dependent |
| float | float | Any floating point number. The limits are implementation dependent |
| string | string | A series of characters, forming text |
| array | n/a | A series of values arranged sequentially in memory, indexable with an integer |
| array | n/a | A series of key-value pairs stored in a hash-table, indexable with the keys |
| function | fn | A chunk of reusable code, which can potentially return a value of some kind |
| type | type | The type of types |
| any | any | Can hold any value |
## Specifying Types For Variables
To specify a type for a variable, use `:` followed by the signature. In this example, the variable `total` can only ever hold integers (or `null`):
```
var total: int = 0;
```
To specify the type of an array or dictionary, use some variation of these signatures:
```
var array: [int] = [1, 2, 3]; //an array of integers
var dictionary: [string : int] = ["key":42]; //a dictionary of key-value pairs
```
Complex, hard-to-write types can be stored in variables, like so:
```
//define a variable called "entry"
var entry: type = astype [string: [string]];
//define a phonebook which follows the above signature
var phonebook: entry = [
"Lucy": ["1234", "Cabbage Ln"],
"Bob": ["5678", "Candy Rd"]
];
```
## Const
Const-ness, or the ability to fix the value of a variable, is part of the type system. To define a constant, follow the type signature with the `const` keyword:
```
var ANSWER: int const = 42; //answer will never change
```
You can also set the members of an array or dicitonary as const, or the entire compound:
```
var members: [int const] = [1, 2, 3]; //1, 2 and 3 cannot be changed, but "members" can be modified or re-assigned
var everything: [int] const = [4, 5, 6]; //everything is now const
```
## Astype
Due to the syntax of Toy, when storing a complex type into a varable, you may need to use the `astype` keyword to differentiate the value from an array or dictionary.
```
var t: type = astype [int]; //t is a type, representing an array of integers
var u: type = [int]; //Error! it tried to assign an array with the sole entry "int"
```
## First-Class citizens
Types are first-class citizens. What this means is that they can be used just like any other value, as well as being stored in variables, and even returned from functions.
```
fn decide(question) {
if (question) {
return int;
}
else {
return float;
}
}
var t = decide(true);
var number: t = 0; //what if it had been false?
```