Definitions
This section contains definitions of various terms used in this document.
- accessor method
- A getter or a setter.
- compile error
- Any compile errors in a program must be reported when the program is compiled or the program execution is being started, and they prevent the execution of the program.
- error
- In this document, the term error is a synonym for compile error.
- explicit member variable
- explicit member constant
- These are member variables and constants defined with the var or const keywords. See also implicit member variable.
- fully qualified name
- The fully qualified name of a global definition contains the complete name of the module that contains the definition, the :: operator and the short name of the definition. For example, the fully qualified name foo::bar::X refers to the definition X in the module foo::bar. For definitions in the main module, the fully qualified name is equal to the short name.
- getter
- A getter is a special method that is called every time a member variable or constant is read to provide the requested value. When explicit member variables and constants are defined, implicit getters are automatically defined for them.
- implementation
- Implementation refers to the software system that includes the Alore compiler, the Alore run-time system and the standard modules.
- implicit member variable
- implicit member constant
- These are member variables and constants that only have getters or setters but no associated value slots.
- invocation
- The term invocation refers to the state related to a single call operation: the value of called object, values of local variable bindings active during the call and the state of the evaluation of the function call (i.e. which statement or subexpression is currently being evaluated). Multiple invocations related to the same callable object may be active at a same time, and they are independent of each other with separate local variables and states of evaluation.
- main module
- The unnamed module that is formed by the main source file of the program.
- program
- A program contains a main source file and any modules imported by the main source file or other modules that are part of the program.
- setter
- A setter is a special method that is called every time a member variable is assigned to. When explicit member variables are defined, implicit setters are automatically defined for them.
- short name
- The short name of a definition is the name used in the definition without a module prefix.
- value slot
- The value slots in objects contain the values of any explicit member variables and constants defined in the class of the object. They provide the primary way of building composite user-defined objects.