Intrinsics
Wipple uses intrinsics to give the compiler special knowledge of certain types, traits and constants. For example, whenever the + operator is used, Wipple calls the function defined by the add intrinsic — in the standard library, this is the Add trait.
To define an intrinsic, use the intrinsic keyword, followed by the type of value (type, trait, or constant) and its name:
intrinsic "trait" "add" : Add
The compiler assumes that the associated type, trait, or constant has the correct shape and behavior; if it doesn’t, the compiler may produce invalid code, strange type errors, or crash.
Here’s a list of the intrinsics used in Wipple:
| Name | Type | Value | Used By |
|---|---|---|---|
add | trait | Add | The + operator |
and | trait | And | The and operator |
as | trait | As | The as operator |
boolean | type | Boolean | The runtime |
build-collection | constant | Build-Collection | The , operator |
by | trait | By | The by operator |
divide | trait | Divide | The / operator |
equal | trait | Equal | The = operator |
error | trait | Error | Custom error messages |
false | constant | False | The runtime |
greater-than-or-equal | trait | Greater-Than-Or-Equal | The >= operator |
greater-than | trait | Greater-Than | The > operator |
hasher | type | Hasher | The runtime |
initial-collection | constant | initial-collection | The , operator |
is-equal-to | constant | Is-Equal-To | The runtime |
is-greater-than | constant | Is-Greater-Than | The runtime |
is-less-than | constant | Is-Less-Than | The runtime |
less-than-or-equal | trait | Less-Than-Or-Equal | The <= operator |
less-than | trait | Less-Than | The < operator |
list | type | List | The runtime |
maybe | type | Maybe | The runtime |
multiply | trait | Multiply | The * operator |
none | constant | None | The runtime |
not-equal | trait | Not-Equal | The /= operator |
number | type | Number | Type of number literals |
or | trait | Or | The or operator |
ordering | type | Ordering | The runtime |
power | trait | Power | The ^ operator |
remainder | trait | Remainder | The % operator |
show | constant | Describe | _ in text literals |
some | constant | Some | The runtime |
subtract | trait | Subtract | The - operator |
task-group | type | Task-Group | The runtime |
text | type | Text | Type of text literals |
to | trait | To | The to operator |
true | constant | True | The runtime |
The runtime also exposes many functions that are called with intrinsic; see the runtime source code.