12. Types

12.1. Nullability

A type may be explicitly marked as nullable, meaning that the null value may be assigned to it. A nullable type does not allow member access unless the value is checked for null, or is cast to the type’s non-nullable counterpart.

A type may be marked as nullable either at definition or declaration.

12.2. Classes

A class is a user defined type. A class may have instance fields and methods, which can be accessed as attributes. It may also inherit functionality from other types, or include functionality from Traits.

12.3. Metaclasses

Since a core concept of Jam is that everything is an object, and objects have types, classes must therefore also have a type. The type of a class is called a metaclass. A metaclass is a class whose instances are classes, as such they define the attributes and functionality of the class itself.

12.4. Syntax

Nullable                  ::=  Value ["?"]
InstanceVariable          ::=  Variable [ "=" Value ]
ClassMethod               ::=  Method | TypeCastDef | OperationDef
TypeCastDef               ::=  ImplicitCastDef | ExplicitCastDef
ImplicitCastDef           ::=  "def" "self" ":" Value InstructionSet "end"
ExplicitCastDef           ::=  "def" "self" "as" Value InstructionSet "end"
OperationDef              ::=  BinaryOperationDef | UnaryOperationDef
BinaryOperationDef        ::=  "def" "self" BinaryOperation Argument [ "->" Value ]
UnaryOperationDef         ::=  "def" UnaryOperation "self" [ "->" Value ]
ClassInstruction          ::=  ClassConstructor | InstanceVariable | ClassMethod
ClassInstructionSet       ::=  ( ClassInstruction \n )*
ClassConstructorPrototype ::=  "(" [ [Argument ","]* Argument ] ")"
ClassConstructor          ::=  "new" ClassConstructorPrototype InstructionSet "end"
ClassPrototype            ::=  Identifier ["?"] [ "(" Value ")" ]
Class                     ::=  "class" ClassPrototype ClassInstructionSet "end"