Birdee playground

Birdee provides a "playground" environment to let you try Birdee code and instantly view the results of each line in your input. The playground is also called REPL (Read-Eval-Print-Loop), this explains what the "playground" does: for each line the user input, it executes the line of code and then print the result. Unlike the Birdee compiler, it will not produce an compiled program in a file. Instead, it runs the inputed code immediately.

Opening playground

The playground is an console application which you can find in $BIRDEE_HOME\bin\birdeeplay (Linux) or %BIRDEE_HOME%\bin\BirdeePlayground.exe (Windows CMD). Run this program, then you should see the following in the console:

Birdee Playground
    ____  _          __
   / __ )(_)________/ /__  ___
  / __  / / ___/ __  / _ \/ _ \
 / /_/ / / /  / /_/ /  __/  __/
/_____/_/_/   \__,_/\___/\___/

You can try and see Birdee codes here. Type ":q" to exit.
birdee>>

If you cannot open Birdee playground, please check:

Try Birdee code

Now you can type in any valid Birdee code. After typing "Enter" key, the playground will compile and execute the line. For example, you can define a variable:

birdee>> dim a = 1

Then you can use the variable in an expression. If the code you entered is an expression, the playground will print the type and the value of the result:

birdee>> (a+1)*a
int: 2

You can define and use classes/structs and functions.

A class:

birdee>> class clsa
........ public v as string
........ public func __init__(v as string) => this.v=v
........ public func printit()=>println(v)
........ end
birdee>> dim b = new clsa("hi")
birdee>> b.printit()
hi
birdee>>

A function:

birdee>> function addint(a as int, b as int) as int
........ return a+b
........ end
functype (int, int) as int: Function addint
birdee>> addint(3,4)
int: 7

Even a function template: 

birdee>> function add[T](a as T, b as T) as T => a+b
(Error type): Function add
birdee>> add(1,2)
int: 3
birdee>> add("1","2")
birdee.string: 12

You can also import the compiled Birdee modules in the BIRDEE_HOME. Moveover, declaring existing C/C++ functions is allowed:

birdee>> declare function malloc(sz as uint) as pointer
functype (uint) as pointer: Function malloc
birdee>> import typedptr:*
........ dim p = mkref[int](malloc(4))
birdee>> p.set(32)
birdee>> p.get()
int: 32

The above code declares a C function - "malloc" in the standard C library, which allocates a piece of memory. Then, we import a Birdee module "typedptr" and set and get the allocated memory with the "typedptr" interface.

Special commands

There are several special commands in Birdee playground designed to control the playground, which is not valid Birdee code. The commands include: