Examples

Small how do I examples for Pony. These will eventually find another home. Until then, they live here.

Enumeration with values

primitive Black fun apply(): U32 => 0xFF000000
primitive Red   fun apply(): U32 => 0xFFFF0000

Enumeration with values with namespace

primitive Colours
  fun black(): U32 => 0xFF000000
  fun red(): U32 => 0xFFFF0000

Enumeration which can be iterated

primitive Black
primitive Blue
primitive Red
primitive Yellow

type Colour is (Black | Blue | Red | Yellow)

primitive ColourList
  fun tag apply(): Array[Colour] =>
    [Black; Blue; Red; Yellow]

for colour in ColourList().values() do
end

Pass an Array of values to FFI

use @eglChooseConfig[U32](disp: Pointer[_EGLDisplayHandle], attrs: Pointer[U16] tag,
  config: Pointer[_EGLConfigHandle], config_size: U32, num_config: Pointer[U32])

primitive _EGLConfigHandle
let a = Array[U16](8)
a.push(0x3040)
a.push(0x4)
a.push(0x3033)
a.push(0x4)
a.push(0x3022)
a.push(0x8)
a.push(0x3023)
a.push(0x8)
a.push(0x3024)
let config = Pointer[_EGLConfigHandle]
if @eglChooseConfig(e_dpy, a.cpointer(), config, U32(1), Pointer[U32]) == 0 then
    env.out.print("eglChooseConfig failed")
end

How to access command line arguments

actor Main
  new create(env: Env) =>
    // The no of arguments
    env.out.print(env.args.size().string())
    for value in env.args.values() do
      env.out.print(value)
    end
    // Access the arguments the first one will always be the application name
    try env.out.print(env.args(0)?) end

How to use the cli package to parse command line arguments

use "cli"

actor Main
  new create(env: Env) =>
    let command_spec =
      try
        CommandSpec.leaf(
          "pony-embed",
          "sample program",
          [ OptionSpec.string("output", "output filename", 'o') ],
          [ ArgSpec.string("input", "source of input" where default' = "-") ]
        )? .> add_help()?
      else
        env.exitcode(1)
        return
      end
    let command =
      match CommandParser(command_spec).parse(env.args, env.vars)
      | let c: Command => c
      | let ch: CommandHelp =>
        ch.print_help(env.out)
        env.exitcode(0)
        return
      | let se: SyntaxError =>
        env.err.print(se.string())
        env.exitcode(1)
        return
      end
    let input_source = command.arg("input").string()
    let output_filename = command.option("output").string()
    env.out.print("Loading data from " + input_source + ". Writing output to " + output_filename)
    // ...

How to write tests

Create a test.pony file

use "pony_test"

actor Main is TestList
  new create(env: Env) => PonyTest(env, this)
  new make() => None

  fun tag tests(test: PonyTest) =>
    test(_TestAddition)

class iso _TestAddition is UnitTest
  """
  Adding 2 numbers
  """
  fun name(): String => "u32/add"

  fun apply(h: TestHelper) =>
    h.assert_eq[U32](2 + 2, 4)

Some assertions you can make with TestHelper are

fun tag log(msg: String, verbose: Bool = false)
be fail() =>
be assert_failed(msg: String) =>
fun tag assert_true(actual: Bool, msg: String = "") ?
fun tag expect_true(actual: Bool, msg: String = ""): Bool
fun tag assert_false(actual: Bool, msg: String = "") ?
fun tag expect_false(actual: Bool, msg: String = ""): Bool
fun tag assert_error(test: ITest, msg: String = "") ?
fun tag expect_error(test: ITest box, msg: String = ""): Bool
fun tag assert_is (expect: Any, actual: Any, msg: String = "") ?
fun tag expect_is (expect: Any, actual: Any, msg: String = ""): Bool
fun tag assert_eq[A: (Equatable[A] #read & Stringable)]
  (expect: A, actual: A, msg: String = "") ?
fun tag expect_eq[A: (Equatable[A] #read & Stringable)]
  (expect: A, actual: A, msg: String = ""): Bool

Operator overloading (easy for copy and paste)

fun add(other: A): A
fun sub(other: A): A
fun mul(other: A): A
fun div(other: A): A
fun rem(other: A): A
fun mod(other: A): A
fun eq(other: A): Bool
fun ne(other: A): Bool
fun lt(other: A): Bool
fun le(other: A): Bool
fun ge(other: A): Bool
fun gt(other: A): Bool
fun shl(other: A): A
fun shr(other: A): A
fun op_and(other:A): A
fun op_or(other: A): A
fun op_xor(othr: A): A

Create empty functions in a class

class Test
  fun alpha() =>
    """
    """
  fun beta() =>
    """
    """

How to create Arrays with values

Single values can be separated by semicolon or newline.

let dice: Array[U32] = [1; 2; 3
  4
  5
  6
]

How to modify a lexically captured variable in a closure

actor Main
  fun foo(n:U32): {ref(U32): U32} =>
    var s: Array[U32] = Array[U32].init(n, 1)
    {ref(i:U32)(s): U32 =>
      try
        s(0)? = s(0)? + i
        s(0)?
      else
        0
      end
    }

  new create(env:Env) =>
    var f = foo(5)
    env.out.print(f(10).string())
    env.out.print(f(20).string())