enso/docs/syntax
2020-05-18 14:03:27 +01:00
..
assignment.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
comments.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
encoding.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
function-arguments.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
functions.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
layout.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
literals.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
macros.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
naming.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
projections.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
README.md Fix a broken link in the syntax docs 2020-05-18 14:03:27 +01:00
top-level.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00
types.md Restructure the developer documentation (#751) 2020-05-15 11:41:26 +01:00

layout title category tags order
section-summary Enso's Syntax syntax
syntax
readme
0

Enso's Syntax

When working with a programming language, the syntax is the first thing that a user encounters. This makes it utterly integral to how users experience the language, and, in the case of Enso, the tool as a whole.

Enso is a truly novel programming language in that it doesn't have one syntax, but instead has two. These syntaxes are dual: visual and textual. Both are first-class, and are truly equivalent ways to represent and manipulate the program. To that end, the design of the language's syntax requires careful consideration, and this document attempts to explain both the what, of Enso's syntax, but also the why.

Furthermore, Enso is novel in the fact that it does not enforce any artificial restriction between the syntaxes of its type and value levels: they are one and the same. This enables a staggering level of uniformity when programming in the language, allowing arbitrary computations on types, because in a dependently-typed world, they are just values.

The various components of Enso's syntax are described below: