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Variables & Assignment

Variables are the primary way to store and manipulate data in Ooga Booga. All variables require a type annotation — the language is strongly typed.

Declaring a variable

Use OOGA to declare a new variable. The type annotation (: Type) is required.

OOGA age: ROCK                    OOF declare, no initial value (defaults to 0)
OOGA name: WORDS BE "Thog"        OOF declare with initial value
OOGA score: BIGDRIP BE 9.5        OOF float
OOGA done: GRUNT BE NAH           OOF boolean

Syntax:

OOGA <name>: <Type>
OOGA <name>: <Type> BE <expr>

A variable declared without BE receives the default value for its type:

Type Default value
Integer types 0
Float types 0.0
GRUNT (bool) NAH (false)
SCRATCH (char) '\0'
WORDS (String) "" (empty)
NOTHING ()

Assigning a value

Use GETS to assign a new value to a previously declared variable:

OOGA x: ROCK BE 10
x GETS 20          OOF x is now 20
x GETS x PLUS 5    OOF x is now 25

The right-hand side of GETS can be any expression whose type matches the variable's declared type.

Scope rules

  • Function scope: variables declared inside a MAGIC block are local to that function.
  • Top-level scope: variables declared outside any function are in the main function scope.
  • Variables declared inside IFF or UGGA blocks are visible within the enclosing scope (Ooga Booga uses Rust-style block scoping in the generated output).
MAGIC example() -> NOTHING
    OOGA local: ROCK BE 99
    SAY local          OOF ok — in scope
UGHA

OOF SAY local          OOF would be an error — local not declared here

Common patterns

Swap two variables:

OOGA a: ROCK BE 1
OOGA b: ROCK BE 2
OOGA temp: ROCK BE a
a GETS b
b GETS temp
SAY a              OOF 2
SAY b              OOF 1

Accumulator:

OOGA total: ROCK BE 0
OOGA i: ROCK BE 1
UGGA WHILE i SMALLR IS 100
    total GETS total PLUS i
    i GETS i PLUS 1
UGHA
SAY total          OOF 5050

String building:

OOGA msg: WORDS BE "Cave says: "
OOGA name: WORDS BE "Thog"
SAY msg PLUS name  OOF "Cave says: Thog"

Errors

If you use a variable before declaring it, oogac reports a semantic error:

OW! CAVE THINKER CONFUSED at line 3, col 5:
NAME "x" NOT KNOWN. CAVE CREATURE NOT DECLARE IT WITH OOGA FIRST.

If you try to assign to an undeclared variable:

OW! CAVE THINKER CONFUSED at line 5, col 1:
NAME "y" NOT KNOWN. CAVE CREATURE NOT DECLARE IT WITH OOGA FIRST.