Operators

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Overview

MaìLang provides a rich set of operators, including arithmetic, comparison, logical, bitwise, and assignment operators.

Arithmetic Operators

Operator	Name	Description	Example
+	Addition	Add two numbers or concatenate strings	1 + 2 = 3, "a" + "b" = "ab"
-	Subtraction	Subtract two numbers	5 - 3 = 2
*	Multiplication	Multiply two numbers or repeat a string	4 * 3 = 12, "ha" * 3 = "hahaha"
/	Division	Divide two numbers	10 / 3 = 3 (integers), 10.0 / 3.0 = 3.333...
%	Modulo	Remainder	10 % 3 = 1
**	Exponentiation	Power	2 ** 3 = 8
-	Negation	Unary operator	-5

Type Behavior

int + int = int       // 1 + 2 = 3
int + float = float   // 1 + 2.0 = 3.0
float + float = float // 1.0 + 2.0 = 3.0
str + str = str       // "a" + "b" = "ab"
str + any = str       // "a" + 42 = "a42"
int * int = int       // 3 * 4 = 12
str * int = str       // "ha" * 3 = "hahaha"

Comparison Operators

Operator	Name	Description	Example
==	Equal	Values are equal	1 == 1 → true
!=	Not equal	Values are not equal	1 != 2 → true
<	Less than	Left is less than right	1 < 2 → true
<=	Less than or equal	Left is less than or equal to right	1 <= 1 → true
>	Greater than	Left is greater than right	2 > 1 → true
>=	Greater than or equal	Left is greater than or equal to right	2 >= 2 → true

Comparison Rules

int vs int        // compared by value
float vs float    // compared by value
int vs float      // int is converted to float, then compared
str vs str        // lexicographic comparison
bool vs bool      // true > false
null vs null      // always equal

Logical Operators

Operator	Name	Description	Example
&&	Logical AND	Both are true	true && false → false
||	Logical OR	Either is true	true || false → true
!	Logical NOT	Negation	!true → false

Short-Circuit Evaluation

// && short-circuits: if the left side is false, the right side does not run
false && expensive_function()  // expensive_function does not run

// || short-circuits: if the left side is true, the right side does not run
true || expensive_function()   // expensive_function does not run

Truth Table

&& | true | false
---|------|------
true  | true  | false
false | false | false

|| | true | false
---|------|------
true  | true  | true
false | true  | false

Bitwise Operators

Operator	Name	Description	Example
&	Bitwise AND	1 only when both bits are 1	0b1010 & 0b1100 → 0b1000
|	Bitwise OR	1 when either bit is 1	0b1010 | 0b1100 → 0b1110
^	Bitwise XOR	1 when the bits differ	0b1010 ^ 0b1100 → 0b0110
~	Bitwise NOT	Invert all bits	~0b1010 → ...11110101
<<	Left shift	Shift left by the given count	1 << 3 → 8
>>	Right shift	Shift right by the given count	8 >> 2 → 2

Examples

// Set bits
let flags = 0b0000
flags = flags | 0b0001  // set bit 0
flags = flags | 0b0010  // set bit 1

// Clear bits
flags = flags & ~0b0001  // clear bit 0

// Toggle bits
flags = flags ^ 0b0001  // toggle bit 0

// Test bits
if flags & 0b0001 != 0 {
    // bit 0 is set
}

Assignment Operators

Operator	Equivalent	Example
=	—	x = 10
+=	x = x + y	x += 5
-=	x = x - y	x -= 3
*=	x = x * y	x *= 2
/=	x = x / y	x /= 4
%=	x = x % y	x %= 3
&=	x = x & y	x &= 0xFF
|=	x = x | y	x |= 0x01
^=	x = x ^ y	x ^= 0xFF
<<=	x = x << y	x <<= 1
>>=	x = x >> y	x >>= 1

Operator Precedence

From highest to lowest:

Precedence	Operators	Associativity	Description
15	()	—	Parentheses
14	. [] ()	left	Member access, indexing, function call
13	**	right	Exponentiation
12	- ! ~	right	Unary operators
11	* / %	left	Multiplicative
10	+ -	left	Additive
9	<< >>	left	Shift
8	&	left	Bitwise AND
7	^	left	Bitwise XOR
6	|	left	Bitwise OR
5	== != < <= > >=	left	Comparison
4	&&	left	Logical AND
3	||	left	Logical OR
2	= += -= etc.	right	Assignment
1	,	left	Comma

Next Steps

• Built-in Functions — standard library functions
• Error Codes — error codes