Say

say is Goblin's built-in output action.

It displays a value as text and is commonly used for:

• debugging
• logging
• inspecting variables
• displaying results to users

If you're coming from another language, say serves a role similar to:

• print() in Python
• println!() in Rust
• puts in Ruby
• console.log() in JavaScript

Basic Usage

Preferred Style

The recommended convention is to use the intrinsic prefix : when calling built-in actions:

x | "Hello World!"

:say(x)

x | "Hello World!"

:say(x)

Output:

Hello World!

Hello World!

Supported Call Styles

Goblin allows several equivalent ways to invoke say.

All of the following produce identical output:

x | "Hello World!"

say x
:say x
say(x)
:say(x)

x | "Hello World!"

say x
:say x
say(x)
:say(x)

Output:

Hello World!

Hello World!

Why Use :

The : prefix is called the intrinsic operator.

It indicates that an action is provided by Goblin itself rather than by user code.

Example:

:say("Hello")

:say("Hello")

Many built-in actions can be written without the prefix:

say("Hello")

say("Hello")

However, the preferred documentation style is:

:say("Hello")

:say("Hello")

because it makes it immediately obvious that the action is an intrinsic.

Printing Variables

Variables can be passed directly to say.

name | "Goblin"

:say(name)

name | "Goblin"

:say(name)

Output:

Goblin

Goblin

Printing Expressions

The value of an expression is printed.

x | 5

:say(x + 10)

x | 5

:say(x + 10)

Output:

15

15

Printing Collections

Arrays and other values are formatted automatically.

items | ["sword", "shield", "potion"]

:say(items)

items | ["sword", "shield", "potion"]

:say(items)

Example output:

["sword", "shield", "potion"]

["sword", "shield", "potion"]

Printing Objects

Objects can also be printed.

rome <> Kingdom |
    name: "Rome",
    age: 400

:say(rome)

rome <> Kingdom |
    name: "Rome",
    age: 400

:say(rome)

Example output:

Kingdom{id: b3e56711-e9ef-426e-a37e-0000816adf7b, name: Rome, age: 400}

Kingdom{id: b3e56711-e9ef-426e-a37e-0000816adf7b, name: Rome, age: 400}

Exact formatting may vary depending on the object's fields.

Not a Method

Unlike some languages, say is not called on a value.

This does not work:

x.say

x.say

or

x.say()

x.say()

Instead, pass the value to say:

:say(x)

:say(x)

No Value Returned

say exists for its side effect: displaying output.

It does not produce a useful value for further computation.

:say("Hello")

:say("Hello")

The text is displayed and execution continues.

Why This Exists

Goblin treats output as an action rather than a special language construct.

This keeps output consistent with the rest of the language:

:save(...)
:load(...)
:say(...)

:save(...)
:load(...)
:say(...)

The intrinsic prefix also makes it easy to distinguish built-in actions from user-defined actions.