The basic way to control the execution of code is with the
if expression. Such an expression typically has the form
if X then Y else Z
and is evaluated as follows. First
X is evaluated. If the result is
true, then the value of
Y is provided, and if the result is
false, then the value of
Z is provided. An error is signalled if the value of
X is anything but
true or
false.
i1 : (-4 .. 4) /
(i -> if i < 0 then "neg"
else if i == 0 then "zer"
else "pos")
o1 = (neg, neg, neg, neg, zer, pos, pos, pos, pos)
o1 : Sequence
|
The else clause may be omitted from an
if expression. In that case, if value of the predicate
X is false, then
null is provided as the value of the
if expression.
i2 : (-4 .. 4) /
(i -> if i < 0 then "neg"
else if i == 0 then "zer")
o2 = (neg, neg, neg, neg, zer, , , , )
o2 : Sequence
|
There are a variety of predicate functions (such as
<, used above) that yield
true or
false and can be used as the predicate in an
if expression. For a list, see
Boolean. Boolean results may be combined with
not,
and, and
or.