Packages

Not all features mentioned here are implemented

What Are Packages

A package is a single Loop file which exports values. Generally public packages export a multitude of other packages. An example of a single package is this:

// filename: test_package.loop
double := fn(x) {
  return x * 2
}

export {
  "double": double
}

This will result in a hashmap being exported with one key value pair called "loop" which exports the function "double". To use this package in your program you could do this:

// filename: program.loop
import "./test_package.loop" as test

// This code will result in 1000
test["double"](500)

Like said previously packages can import other packages, so you can build a main package for all your math functions and export them together so your main program only has to import one package.

Remote Packages

Loop also has support for remote package importing. An example is the std package from Loop itself:

// Option 1
import "github.com/looplanguage/std" as std

This will automatically download the latest (released) version from github and define it as "std". It's also possible to specify a version, which we advise if you want consistent behavior. You can either select a specific version like this:

// Option 2
import "github.com/looplanguage/[email protected]" as std

Or you can specify it with placeholders, like you only want to update minor & patch versions:

// Option 3
import "github.com/looplanguage/[email protected]" as std

We advise going for option 3, all official packages uses semantic versioning. Meaning that if you want to stay secure while still being on a version without breaking changes you only select a major version (in this case the "1").