Variables and Conditionals

Variables

This tutorial will cover how to program in ez by using examples. Every example will showcase a different feature of ez.

The simplest ez program that does something is this:

Set var to 42.

All this program does is set a variable called var to the number 42.

If we wanted to change var to something else after we have set it we could do this:

Set var to 42.
Change var to var * 2.

This is self explanatory, we are changing var to something else. To use the change keyword with a variable, you must set it first.

Note: keywords in ez that start a sentence are not case sensitive set var to 42. works. to is case sensitive because it is in the middle of a sentence. You can think of this like English.

Numbers and characters can be used interchangeably:

Set var to 'a'.
Change var to var * 2.

In this example, at the end, var is 194, because ‘a’ is converted to it’s ASCII code. There is 0 difference between characters and numbers.

Conditionals

We can use an if statement to control the flow of the code:

Set special_number to 0.
if special_number = 0,
  change special_number to special_number + 1.
!

Take a moment to think: what is the value of special_number at the end of this program.

The answer: 1.

The way conditionals evaluate in ez is that if the if statement guard (in this case special_number = 0) evaluates to 1 then the block is run.

Blocks look like , (code) !. Whitespace has no impact on ez.

You can create boolean expressions using these operators:

• = equals
• != not equal
• and binary and operator (it also works for booleans because math is cool)
• or binary or operator (it also works for booleans because math is cool)
• > greater than
• < less than
• >= greater than or equal
• <= less than or equal

You can use these operators to create numbers:

• + add
• - subtract
• * multiply

Note: division is not supported because it is not safe, dividing by zero is bad.