Glossary

work limit

The interpreter’s work limit is only an approximate limit. This is because a block can be short enough to not trigger the limiter while outputting more characters than its original body. Additionally, the work limit is referring to the maximum output size before processing is halted.

Example:

Imagine an interpreter with a work limit of 15 characters encountering the following script:

{=(hello):Hello|Hi|Good day|Good morning|Good evening}
{hello(4):|}
{hello(5):|}
{hello(1):|}

This entire script is 90 characters long (not counting line breaks). The work limit is 15, so the output should not (massively) exceed 15 characters.

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zero-depth

For certain inputs, the splitting delimiter must not be contained within a nested block, for example within a variable block that is being retrieved for splitting.

Correct Examples:

  1. The AnyBlock requires | in parameter and payload:

    {any({my_var}==test|{other_var}):{msg}|{error_msg}}

    The AnyBlock requires | as separators of the conditions and to split the responses. The above example will succeed if {my_var} equals "test" OR if {other_var} contains a truthy expression.

    • On success, the {msg} block is interpreted and returned.

    • On failure, the {error_msg} block is interpreted and returned.

  2. The ListBlock requires tildes (~) in payload:

    {list({index}):{first}~{second}~third~fourth}

    The ListBlock requires list items to be split by tildes (~). The above example will succeed and return the appropriate item, e.g. “third” if {index} is 2 (remember: the ListBlock is 0-indexed) or the interpreted result of {first} if {index} is 0.

Incorrect Examples:

  1. AnyBlock with | not at zero-depth in parameter:

    {any({conditions}):Success|Failure}

    This AnyBlock will ONLY work as expected if {conditions} is literally “true” or “false” (which are special-cased constants for boolean expressions).

    For all other situations, it will only return the Failure reply because {conditions} is not a proper boolean expression.

  2. AnyBlock with | not at zero-depth in payload:

    {any({my_var}==test|{other_var}):{outcomes}}

    This AnyBlock has the same conditions as in the Correct Example above, BUT:

    • On success, the entire {outcomes} block is interpreted and returned

    • On failure, nothing is interpreted and an empty string is returned

    Note

    This MAY be desirable for situations where the failure case should return an empty string. However, it is worth making this intent clear by writing the block like this, with an empty string in the failure case section:

    {any({my_var}==test|{other_var}):{outcomes}|}

    (A better variable name to replace outcomes would also be worth considering.)

  3. ListBlock with ~ not at zero-depth in payload:

    {list({index}):{list_of_things}}

    This ListBlock will always return the entire interpreted contents of {list_of_things} because there is no zero-depth ~ to split the list items.

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