Helios language/

Functions

Functions are a core feature of Helios. All Helios functions are pure, which means they don't have side effects and always return the same result when given the same arguments.

Function statements are defined using the func keyword. Helios has no return statement, the last expression in a function is implicitly returned (like in Rust):

func add(a: Int, b: Int) -> Int {
    a + b 
}

A function can call itself recursively:

func fib(n: Int) -> Int {
    // the branches of an if/else expresion return values
    if (n < 1) {
        1
    } else {
        fib(n - 1) + fib(n - 2)
    }
}

Note:: a function can only reference itself when recursing. Helios doesn't support hoisting, so mutual recursion by referring to functions defined after the current function in the top-scope isn't possible (for struct and enum methods this is however possible):

01 func a(n: Int) -> Int {
02     b(n)                   // ReferenceError: 'b' undefined
03 }
04
05 func b(n: Int) -> Int {
06     a(n)                   // ok
07 }

More detailed information can be found on the following pages: