Any

Verse has a special type, any, that is the supertype of all types (all other types are subtypes of any). Because of this, any supports very few operations, as all other types must be able to provide the same functionality that any provides.

For example, if any were to define a comparison operation (which it doesn't), then all other types would also have to define a comparison operation (which they don't).

There is very little that you can do with an any type. but it's good to be aware of this type as it may come up when writing code that produces an error.

But there are ways that you can use any:

Letters := enum:
    A
    B
    C

letter := class:
    Value : char

    Main(Arg : int) : void =
        X := if (Arg > 0)
            Letters.A
        else
            letter{Value := 'D'}
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Letters := enum: A B C letter := class: Value : char Main(Arg : int) : void = X := if (Arg > 0) Letters.A else letter{Value := 'D'}

In the code example above, X is given the type any, as that is the lowest supertype of both Letters and letter.

More usefully, any can be used as the type for a parameter to a function that is ignored (but might be required as an argument for a method of an implemented interface).

For example:

FirstInt(X:int, :any) : int = X
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FirstInt(X:int, :any) : int = X

The second argument to FirstInt is ignored, and can be of any type, so it is given the any type. FirstInt can be more generally written using parametric types. For example:

First(X:t, :any where t:type) : t = X
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First(X:t, :any where t:type) : t = X