A block is a group of expressions that can stand in for a single expression. Blocks are surrounded by curly braces:
{
print("Hello there.");
print("Glad to meet you.");
print("So long!");
}
For example, the if statement has this form:
if (condition)
exp1
exp1 can be a single expression:
if ($x > 5)
print("It's more than 5!");
if ($x > 5) {
print("It's more than 5!");
$x = 0;
$y++;
}
Blocks will become important when you start to use conditional and looping statements.
In MEL, unlike most languages, all statements inside a block (surrounded by curly braces) must end in semicolons, even if it is the only statement in the block.
if ($s > 10) {print("Glonk!")} // Syntax error.
if ($s > 10) {print("Glunk!");} // Notice the semicolon.
Blocks can also be useful to limit the scope of a variable, since any local variable declared in a block is only visible inside that block:
int $test = 10;
{
int $test = 15;
print($test+"\n");
}
print($test+"\n");
// Result:
15
10