5.2.4. Variables and Constants
At the global module level, we declare variables with the global
keyword:
[public] global NAME: TYPE [= DEFAULT];
This defines a global variable called NAME
with type TYPE
. If the
variable is declared with public
visibility other modules can reference it.
If a default is given, Spicy initializes the global accordingly before any
code executes. Otherwise, the global receives a type-specific default,
typically the type’s notion of a null value. As a result, globals are always
initialized to a well-defined value.
As a shortcut, you can skip : TYPE
if the global comes with a
default. Spicy then just applies the expression’s type to the global.
We define global constants in a similar way, just replacing global
with const
:
const x: uint32 = 42;
const foo = "Foo";
Inside a function, local variables use the same syntax once more, just
prefixed with local
this time:
function f() {
local x: bytes;
local y = "Y";
}
Usual scoping rules apply to locals. Just like globals, locals are always initialized to a well-defined value: either their default if given, or the type’s null value.