Koal@ Manual

• Koal@ Manual
  • What is it?
  • How to use it?
  • Why is it useful?
  • Authors
  • Koal@ Syntax
    • Text
    • Variables
    • Comments
    • Conditionals
    • Loops
    • Aliases
    • Pipes
    • Includes

What is it?

Koal@ is a template language inspired by the well known Pandoc Template Language. By receiving a template followed by defined syntax and a dictionary (YAML or JSON), it generates an output file with the desired extension.

How to use it?

python3 src/koala.py template -dt TYPE dictionary outputfile where TYPE is json or yaml.

python3 src/koala.py -h shows the help menu.

Why is it useful?

By defining a template, or using one of the pre-defined available on the examples directory, the user can simplify the work of writing a document or a web page.

This way, the user is capable of automating the generation of the desired files.

Authors

Koal@ was created in the context of Language Processing class at University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.

It was the second practical assignment done by the following students:

Beatriz Rodrigues

Francisco Neves

Guilherme Fernandes

Koal@ Syntax

Text

Inside double quotes (p.e. "this is an example of text").

Variables

• Dictionary Variables: Using @ (p.e. @variable);
• Temporary Variables: Using # (p.e. #tmp)

Comments

Using double slashes, just like C (p.e. // this is a comment).

Conditionals

Using if, elif and else. For example:

if @var {
    "var exists"
} elif @var2{
    "var2 exists"
} else {
    "var and var2 doesn't exist"
}

Loops

Using for. For example:

for #tmpvar : @vars {
    #tmpvar " is in vars."
}

Aliases

Using alias prefix to define it or the name of the alias followed by (arg1, arg2, ...) to call it. For example:

// Defining
alias cd #dir {
    "cd " #dir
}
// Using
cd(@dir1)

Pipes

Using / followed by the name of the desired pipe. The following pipes are available:

• First: Used with /first to get the first element of a list;
• Last: Used with /last to get the last element of a list;
• Head: Used with /head to get all the elements of a list except the last one;
• Tail: Used with /tail to get all the elements of a list except the first one;
• Upper: Used with /upper to convert a string to uppercase;
• Lower: Used with /lower to convert a string to lowercase;
• Reverse: Used with /reverse to reverse a string or a list.

For example:

for #name : @names/head{#name", "} @names/last

Will produce a list of the names at @names separated by a comma, except the last one.

for #name : @names{#name/upper" "}

Will produce a list of the names at @names in uppercase.

for #name : @names/reverse{#names" "}

Will produce a list of the names at @names in the reverse order.

Includes

Used to import aliases from another .koa file (p.e. include "file.koa"). The path of the included file should be relative to the directory where the koal@ app will be run.