Function

---

Function

Functions are first class objects like Int or String and can be stored in local variables (even in Lists or Maps), passed as function parameters or returned by a function. Functions can be implemented in Gravity or in a native language with calling conventions compatible with ANSI C.

Functions are called by value. This means that foo(1) calls the function which is the value of the variable foo. Calling a value that is not a function (or does not implement the exec method) will raise a runtime error.

    func main() {
        var a = 10;
        var b = 20;
        return a + b;
    }

    func f1() {
        return 10;
    }

    func f2() {
        return f1;
    }

    func main() {
        // a is now function f2
        var a = f2;

        // b is now the return value of f2 which is function f1
        var b = a();

        // return value is f1() which is 10
        return b();

        // above code is equivalent to
        return f2()();
    }

Function parameters

Functions aren’t very useful if you can’t pass values to them so you can provide a parameter list in the function declaration. Gravity performs no check on the number of parameters so you can call a function providing more or less parameters.

    func sum(a, b) {
        return a + b;
    }

    // execute the sum function
    // and returns 30 as result
    sum(10,20);

If a function is called with missing arguments (less than declared), the missing values are set to undefined.

    // sum modified to take in account missing arguments
    func sum(a, b) {
        // equivalent to if (a == undefined) a = 30;
        if (!a) a = 30;

        // equivalent to if (b == undefined) b = 50;
        if (!b) b = 50;

        return a + b;
    }

    // execute the sum function without any argument
    // a has a 30 default value and b has a 50 default value
    // return value is 80
    sum();

If a function is called with more arguments (more than declared), the additional arguments can be accessed using the _args array.

    // sum modified to accept a variable number of arguments
    func sum() {
        var tot = 0;
        for (var i in 0..<_args.count) {
            tot += _args[i];
        }
        return tot;
    }

    // execute the sum function with a variable number
    // of arguments returns 550 as result
    sum(10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90,100);

Recursion

Function recursion is fully supported in Gravity (current function can be accessed using the _func reserved keyword):

    func fibonacci (n) {
        if (n<2) return n;
        // could be written as return _func(n-2) + _func(n-1)
        return fibonacci(n-2) + fibonacci(n-1);
    }

    func main() {
        return fibonacci(20);
    }

Returning values

A function without a return statement returns null by default. You can explicitly return a value using a return statement.