Data Types¶

In TJS2, variables have no "type", but values have types internally. Rather than having no types, TJS2 handles types automatically and dynamically.

The internal types are void, integer, real, string, object, and octet.

void¶

void represents nothing (its meaning differs from JavaScript). A freshly declared variable is void.

To compare void values, use the === (identity) operator.

The **typeof** operator returns "void" for it.

Integer¶

TJS2 handles integers with 64-bit precision. Integers are normally treated as signed integers; the only exception is the **>>>** operator, which treats its left operand as an unsigned integer.

The typeof operator returns "**Integer**" for it.

Real¶

TJS2 handles real numbers with 64-bit precision (double precision).

The typeof operator returns "**Real**" for it.

String¶

TJS2 handles zero-terminated strings of unlimited length. "Zero-terminated" means strings are handled on the assumption that a string ends at \0.

The internal character encoding is UTF-16LE, stored as a fixed 16 bits per character. Characters outside the BMP are represented as surrogate pairs.

The typeof operator returns "**String**" for it.

For the list of methods and properties available on strings, see Strings.

Object¶

The object type holds an object. Besides objects allocated with the new operator, functions, classes, property objects and so on are all of the object type.

The typeof operator returns "**Object**" for it.

Unlike TJS and JavaScript, the TJS2 object type internally holds two pointers: one to the object itself, and one to the object that serves as the context in which it should be used. This enables so-called closures. The incontextof operator changes this context part.

The following classes in particular have dedicated literal notations in TJS2 syntax and appear frequently.

Arrays (Array class) — an ordered sequence of elements. Writing [ ... ] in an expression creates one on the spot.
Dictionaries (Dictionary class) — a mapping from string keys to values. Writing %[ ... ] in an expression creates one on the spot.
Regular expression patterns (RegExp class) — patterns for matching and replacing strings. They can be written as literals in the form /.../.

Octet¶

The octet type handles a sequence of 8-bit data (an octet sequence). It is mainly used for binary data.

The typeof operator returns "**Octet**" for it.

For the list of methods and properties available on octet sequences, see Octet Sequences.