Variables

Declare variables

Marcel variable declarations are the same as Java's

int a = 2
Object o = new Object()

List<int> l = [1, 2] // collection of primivites

Multiple declarations

Marcel supports multiple assignments in one statement

def (int a, String b, Object c) = [1, "2", new Object()]

def (int d, String e, Object f) = functionReturningAnArrayOrList()

Note that if the array/list is shorter than the number of variable declared, this will lead to a runtime error

Sometimes you might want to ignore a specific item of a list, You can use the _ identifier to let the compiler know that.

E.g.

def (_, String world) = ("hello world" =~ /hello (world)/).groups()

Variable assignments

Just use = to assign values to defined variables

int a = 2

a = 3

Properties

Marcel allows to access getters and setters as properties.

Suppose you have the below class

class Foo {
  private int bar
  
  fun getBar() {
    return this.@bar
  }
  
  fun setBar(int bar) {
    this.@bar = bar
  }
}

You could call these getBar/setBar methods using the property syntax. The @bar notation is the direct field access operator, make sure to reference the Java class's field.

Foo foo = new Foo()

foo.bar = 5 // will actully call foo.setBar(5)
println(foo.bar) // will actually call foo.getBar()

Automatic casting

Variable assignments are automatically casted when needed.

Optional o = Optional.of(123)
Integer myInteger = o.get() // returns Object cast into an Integer 
int myInt = o.get() // returns Object cast into an Integer then into an int

This can be useful as Marcel doesn't support generic types.