Example 1: Hello World
The Structure
NICS is a series of statements. Every statement is a collection of variables or literals connected by binary or unary operators acting upon those variables. There are the following literal forms:
Variable
A variable is a named storage element that can hold any of the following types. A variable name starts with an alpha character and can continue with any number of alpha-numerics
String
"This is a string. It is bounded by double quotes"
Integer
45645655 // That was a number and this is a comment. Anything on a line after // is a comment and is ignored by the compiler
Array
[ "This is an array" "There are no commas separating the items" 5 "The items can be any type of items" [ "This is an array within an array and contains a string and an integer" 7 ] "This is the last item" ]
Code Block
{ a = 4 } // A code block is an item that is a set of statements surrounded by braces {}
Name Space
{{ a = 4 }} // A name space is an item that is a set of statements surrounded by double braces {{}}
And there are the following operators
The standard maths and logic ones as per C '= == + - / * & | ^ && || << >>' and also '**' for raise to the power, and ':' for code execution.
Built in functions
The language has the following functions built in:
| Function | Purpose | Example |
| command | Executes a system command | page = command:"curl jsn.co" |
| if | exectutes code blocks conditionally | if:[ { a==4 } { print:"A is 4" } { print:"A isn't 4" } ] |
| prints a string | print:"Hello World" | |
| while | exectutes code blocks conditionally | while:[ { f > 0 } { f = f - 1 } ] |
| prints a string | ||
| while | exectutes code blocks conditionally | |
| readfile | reads the contents of a file into a string | filecontent = readfile:"myfile.txt" |
Hello World
The solution is a single statement that uses the 'execute' operator to combine the build-in 'print' function with a string literal, "Hello World"
print:"Hello World"
Code Blocks and Name Spaces
All Code Blocks and Name Spaces are first-class citizens. Code Blocks are Closures within the Name Space that contains them. All variables within Name Spaces are created on the heap and are persistent through the lifetime of the execution of the program. What this means in practice is this:
Named Variables are not created on the stack
Any code when loaded for execution forms a Name Space, but can have separate Name Spaces defined within the code
All Named Variables start as integers with a value of zero
