Variables

Helios doesn't really have variables as it is a purely functional programming language, and nothing can be mutated after definition. It is more accurate to think of variables in Helios as binding values to names.

Assignment

Inside a function body, values can be bound to names using assignment expressions:

my_number: Int = 42; ...

Here my_number has value 42, and has type Int. my_number cannot be mutated after its definition.

Assignment expressions must be followed by another expression, separated by a semicolon (;). The assignment expression above should be seen as syntactic sugar for the following anonymous function call: ((my_number: Int) -> {...})(42).

Note: Int is Helios' only number type, and represents an unbounded integer.

Note: an assignment expression can alternatively be seen as a ternary operator: ... = ... ; ...

const statements

Values can also be bound to names at the top-level of a script, or inside struct or enum blocks. This is done with the const keyword:

const AGE: Int = 123

Top-level const statements can be re-bound using the Helios API to form a new, distinct contract with a different address (see parameterized contracts).

Note: the right-hand side of const can contain complex expressions and even function calls. The compiler is smart enough to evaluate these at compile-time.

Type annotations

Assignment expressions and const statements usually include a type annotation. For literal right-hand sides type annotations are optional:

list_of_ints = []Int{1, 1, 2, 3, 5}; ...

// instead of the more verbose:

list_of_ints: []Int = []Int{1, 1, 2, 3, 5}; ...