Syntax¶

Catalyst syntax should be compact, readable, and low ceremony. It favors short keywords and left-to-right meaning over symbolic cleverness.

This folder records source spelling and grammar shape. When syntax has deeper semantic rules, this index links to the canonical semantic page instead of repeating the full design.

Source Encoding¶

Catalyst source files are UTF-8. Source spans remain byte-based so compiler diagnostics, tooling, and reflection metadata can point back into source text deterministically.

Syntax Topics¶

Source Grammar

Consolidated EBNF-style grammar map for V1 source syntax and expression grouping.

Keywords

Working keyword set and non-keyword policy.

Naming Conventions

Capitalization, prelude constructor names, resource names, contracts, enums, errors, and acronyms.

Comments

Regular comments, documentation comments, module docs, attachment, normalization, and tooling trivia.

Literals

Source spelling for numeric, code point, string, primitive value, and aggregate literal forms.

Expected-Type Shorthand

Leading-dot members and contextual aggregate literals completed from an expected type.

Operators

Operator spelling and precedence notes recorded so far.

Declarations

Statement shape, var / const, binding patterns, and shadowing.

Destructuring

Struct and array destructuring syntax.

Move Expressions

Explicit ownership-transfer expression spelling.

Conditional Declarations

Compile-time declaration guards and type-predicate narrowing.

Defer

Scope-exit cleanup syntax owned by control-flow semantics.

Cross-Reference¶

Functions

Function declarations, parameters, signatures, pointers, defaults, inference, and main.

Attributes

Attribute syntax, targets, providers, and diagnostics.

Control Flow

Blocks, conditionals, loops, divergence, and statement separation.

Arrays, Slices, Ranges, and Indexing

[N]T, []T, array literals, indexing, ranges, and slicing syntax.

Reference and Mutability

Value, pointer, slice, mutability, and ownership semantics.