[on hold] Add Minetest

[dnchu]

Question(s):

• Any plans for "class" inheritance?
• What is the proper way to use unions and nil?
• Is it possible to mark a parameter as "non-nil"?

Here is some code that shows some of the weird behavior I get:

function dofile(filename: string)
	...
end

local s: string | nil = somevalue

dofile(s) -- error

if not s is nil then
	dofile(s) -- ok
end

if s is nil then
	dofile(s) -- ok
end

if s then
	dofile(s) -- error
end

if not s then
	return
end

dofile(s) -- error

if s is nil then
	return
end

dofile(s) -- error

Answered questions

• Is it possible to have an array of multiple types? (Yes, with tl 0.6.0) For example:

  local Image = record 
  	name: string
  end
  local images: {string | Image} = { "diamond_1.png", { name = "diamond_2.png" } }

• Is it possible to allow constructors for records? (Not yet) For example:

  global ItemStack = record
  end
  
  function ItemStack()
  end

[hishamhm]

Is it possible to have an array of multiple types? For example:

In tl 0.6.0, just released, it is. :) (there was a bug which I fixed)

Is it possible to allow constructors for records? For example:

Not yet... the types have no knowledge of metatables at this point.

[hishamhm]

A quick heads-up: I'd rather not adding Lua 5.1-only functions to the Teal standard library definitions — that reminds me I might need to double-check the math library additions!

[hishamhm]

Any plans for "class" inheritance?

This is under consideration — discussion ongoing here: teal-language/tl#97 (see also this draft for a simpler variant: teal-language/tl#124 )

What is the proper way to use unions and nil?
Is it possible to mark a parameter as "non-nil"?

Not yet. Nil in Teal currently works the same way as in Lua: every variable may be nil, regardless of its type (unions or not). I talk a bit about the challenges involved there in my FOSDEM 2020 talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfnjUCRzRKU

[jordan4ibanez]

Hey I got something for you https://github.com/jordan4ibanez/forgotten-lands/blob/main/minetest.d.tl
Near line 2000 I start my own thing, I've tried my best with this, if there are any updates to it as I'm testing it out I'll keep you updated. Running through the API.md was quite scary haha.