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3+Syntax is whitespace sensitive. The general rule of thumb is that declarations which span multiple lines should be indented past the column on which they were first defined on their subsequent lines.
5+That is, the following is valid:
21+Blocks are collections of statements wrapped in braces `{ ... }`. Blocks must return a value of the same type on every branch of execution.
23+The following types of statement are supported:
25+- Variable introduction
30+- If-Then-Else statements
32+Here is an example of a power function defined using a block:
37+ for (i <- 0 until p) {
44+Blocks enable local mutation of their variables, but mutation is not allowed in general. The type system prevents mutable variables from escaping their scope.
46+That is, while the example above is valid, the following does not compile:
55+The variable `n` is not mutable, and so the assignment in the first line of the `do` block is not allowed.
57+This function can be rewritten as follows:
69+For loops look like this:
74+ for (i <- 0 until 10) {
81+The bounds `0` and `10` are inclusive and exclusive respectively.
85+For each loops loop over the elements in an array using the `Object.forEach` method. A polyfill may be required for some browsers:
99+The syntax of a while loop is similar to a foreach loop:
113+## If-Then-Else Statements
115+Else branches are optional, and may contain further `if` statements, just as in Javascript:
133+## If-Then-Else Expressions
135+The `if`, `then` and `else` keywords can also be used to create conditional expressions. In this case, the `else` block is always required.
140+conditional = if 2 > 1 then "ok" else "oops"
145+The `do` keyword introduces simple syntactic sugar for monadic expressions.
147+Here is an example, using the maybe monad:
150+data Maybe a = Nothing | Just a
152+instance Monad Maybe where
154+ (>>=) Nothing _ = Nothing
155+ (>>=) (Just a) f = f a
157+isEven n | n % 2 == 0 = Just {}
168+`isEven` adds two values of type `Maybe Number` and returns their sum, if the sum is even. If the sum is odd, `evenSum` returns `Nothing`.
170+This example illustrates the following aspects of `do` notation:
172+- The corresponding type constructor must be an instance of the `Prelude.Monad` type class, which defines the `ret` and `>>=` functions.
173+- Statements can have the following form:
174+ - `a <- x` which desugars to `m.bind x (\a -> ...)`
175+ - `let a = x` which desugars to `(\a -> ...)(x)`
176+ - `x` which desugars to `m.bind x (\_ -> ...)` or just `x` if this is the last statement.
178+Not illustrated here, but equally valid is the use of a binder on the left hand side of `<-` or `=`. For example:
186+A pattern match failure will generate a runtime exception, just as in the case of a regular `case` statement.
190+In addition to the standard operators, user-defined infix operators can be created by enclosing names in parentheses:
192+E.g. to create a synonym for string concatenation:
195+(<>) = \s1 s2 -> s1 ++ s2
197+greeting = "Hello" <> "World!"
200+Regular functions can be used as operators by enclosing their names in backticks:
203+foo = \x y -> x * y + y
208+Fixity declarations can associate a precedence level, which is a natural number, to a user-defined operator, and specify which way it associates: