3.2.
Variables And Functions
Now that we know that every Scheme statement is enclosed in
parentheses, and that the function name/operator is listed first,
we need to know how to create and use variables, and how to create
and use functions. We'll start with the variables.
3.2.1. Declaring Variables
Although there are a couple of different methods for declaring
variables, the preferred method is to use the let*
construct. If you're familiar with other programming
languages, this construct is equivalent to defining a list of
local variables and a scope in which they're active. As an
example, to declare two variables, a and b, initialized to 1
and 2, respectively, you'd write:
(let* (
(a 1)
(b 2)
)
(+ a b)
)
or, as one line:
(let* ( (a 1) (b 2) ) (+ a b) )
![[Note]](../images/note.png)
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Note |
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You'll have to put all of this on one line if you're using the
console window. In general, however, you'll want to adopt a
similar practice of indentation to help make your scripts more
readable. We'll talk a bit more about this in the section on
White Space.
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This declares two local variables, a and b, initializes them,
then prints the sum of the two variables.
3.2.2. What Is A Local Variable?
You'll notice that we wrote the summation (+ a b)
within the parens of the let* expression, not after it.
This is because the let* statement defines an
area in your script in which the declared variables are
usable; if you type the (+ a b) statement after the (let* ...)
statement, you'll get an error, because the declared variables
are only valid within the context of the let*
statement; they are what programmers call local variables.
3.2.3. The General Syntax Of let*
The general form of a let* statement is:
(let* ( variables ) expressions )
where variables are declared within parens, e.g., (a 2), and
expressions are any valid Scheme expressions. Remember that
the variables declared here are only valid within the
let* statement -- they're local variables.
Previously, we mentioned the fact that you'll probably want to
use indentation to help clarify and organize your
scripts. This is a good policy to adopt, and is not a problem
in Scheme -- white space is ignored by the Scheme interpreter,
and can thus be liberally applied to help clarify and organize
the code within a script. However, if you're working in
Script-Fu's Console window, you'll have to enter an entire
expression on one line; that is, everything between the
opening and closing parens of an expression must come on one
line in the Script-Fu Console window.
3.2.5. Assigning A New Value To A Variable
Once you've initialized a variable, you might need to change
its value later on in the script. Use the set! statement to
change the variable's value:
(let* ( (theNum 10) ) (set! theNum (+ theNum \
theNum)) )
Try to guess what the above statement will do, then go ahead
and enter it in the Script-Fu Console window.
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Note |
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The "\" indicates that there is no line break. Ignore it (don't
type it in your Script-Fu console and don't hit Enter), just
continue with the next line.
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Now that you've got the hang of variables, let's get to work
with some functions. You declare a function with the following
syntax:
(define (name param-list) expressions)
where name is the name assigned to
this function, param-list is a
space-delimited list of parameter names, and
expressions is a series of
expressions that the function executes when it's called. For
example:
(define (AddXY inX inY) (+ inX inY) )
AddXY is the function's name and
inX and inY are the
variables. This function takes its two parameters and adds
them together.
If you've programmed in other imperative languages (like
C/C++, Java, Pascal, etc.), you might notice that a couple of
things are absent in this function definition when compared to
other programming languages.
-
First, notice that the parameters don't have any "types"
(that is, we didn't declare them as strings, or integers,
etc.). Scheme is a type-less language. This is handy and
allows for quicker script writing.
-
Second, notice that we don't need to worry about how to
"return" the result of our function -- the last statement is
the value "returned" when calling this function. Type the
function into the console, then try something like:
(AddXY (AddXY 5 6) 4)
