Variables and Conditionals
Variables
This tutorial will cover how to program in ez by using examples. Every example will showcase a different feature of ez.
The simplest ez program that does something is this:
Set var to 42.
All this program does is set a variable called var to the number 42.
If we wanted to change var to something else after we have set it we could do this:
Set var to 42.
Change var to var * 2.
This is self explanatory, we are changing var to something else. To use the change
keyword with a variable, you must set
it first.
Note: keywords in
ez
that start a sentence are not case sensitiveset var to 42.
works.to
is case sensitive because it is in the middle of a sentence. You can think of this like English.
Numbers and characters can be used interchangeably:
Set var to 'a'.
Change var to var * 2.
In this example, at the end, var is 194, because ‘a’ is converted to it’s ASCII code. There is 0 difference between characters and numbers.
Conditionals
We can use an if
statement to control the flow of the code:
Set special_number to 0.
if special_number = 0,
change special_number to special_number + 1.
!
Take a moment to think: what is the value of special_number
at the end of this program.
The answer: 1.
The way conditionals evaluate in ez is that if the if statement guard (in this case special_number = 0) evaluates to 1 then the block is run.
Blocks look like , (code) !
. Whitespace has no impact on ez.
You can create boolean expressions using these operators:
=
equals!=
not equaland
binary and operator (it also works for booleans because math is cool)or
binary or operator (it also works for booleans because math is cool)>
greater than<
less than>=
greater than or equal<=
less than or equal
You can use these operators to create numbers:
+
add-
subtract*
multiply
Note: division is not supported because it is not safe, dividing by zero is bad.