58 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
58 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
# Frequently asked questions
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# What is the language supported for the micro:bit?
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For the micro:bit, we support a "static" subset of TypeScript (itself a superset of JavaScript):
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## Supported language features
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* variables with `let`, `const`, and `var`
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* functions with lexical scoping and recursion
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* top-level code in the file; hello world really is `console.log("Hello world")`
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* `if ... else if ... else` statements
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* `while` and `do ... while` loops
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* `for(;;)` loops (see below about `for ... in/of`)
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* `break/continue`; also with labeled loops
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* `switch` statement (on numbers only)
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* `debugger` statement for breakpoints
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* conditional operator `? :`; lazy boolean operators
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* namespaces (a form of modules)
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* all arithmetic operators (including bitwise operators); note that in microcontroller targets
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all arithmetic is performed on integers, also when simulating in the browser
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* strings (with a few common methods)
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* [string templates](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Template_literals) (`` `x is ${x}` ``)
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* arrow functions `() => ...`
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* classes with fields, methods and constructors; `new` keyword
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* array literals `[1, 2, 3]`
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* enums
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## Unsupported language features
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We generally stay away from the more dynamic parts of JavaScript.
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Things you may miss and we may implement:
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* exceptions (`throw`, `try ... catch`, `try ... finally`)
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* `for ... of` statements
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* object literals `{ foo: 1, bar: "two" }`
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* method-like properties (get/set accessors)
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* class inheritance
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For JS-only targets we may implement the following:
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* regular expressions
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* classes implementing interfaces
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Things that we are not very likely to implement:
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* file-based modules (`import * from ...`, `module.exports` etc); we do support namespaces
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* spread operator
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* `yield` expression and ``function*``
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* `await` expression and `async function`
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* `typeof` expression
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* tagged templates ``tag `text ${expression} more text` ``; regular templates are supported
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* binding with arrays or objects: `let [a, b] = ...; let { x, y } = ...`
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* `with` statement
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* `eval`
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* `delete` statement
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* `for ... in` statements
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* JSX (HTML as part of JavaScript) |