Float

Verse uses float as the type for storing and handling floating point numbers, such as 1.0, -50.5, and 3.14159.

A float in Verse is an IEEE 64-bit float, which means it can contain a positive or negative number that has a decimal point in the range [-2^1024 + 1, … , 0, … , 2^1024 - 1], or has the value NaN (Not a Number).

The implementation for float differs from the IEEE standard in the following ways:

• There is only one NaN value.
• NaN is equal to itself.
• Every number is equal to itself. If two numbers are equal, then no pure Verse code can observe the difference between them.
• 0 cannot be negative.

You can include predefined float values within your code as float literals. A float literal is a floating point number in your code.

The following is an example of how to create a float variable named MaxHealth, initialized with the float literal 100.0:

MaxHealth : float = 100.0
Copy full snippet

Float Operations

Floats support math operations and comparisons with other floats.

Math

You can do the four basic math operations with floats in Verse: + for addition, - for subtraction, * for multiplication, and / for division.

There are also combined operators for doing the basic math operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), and updating the dereferenced value of a pointer. These combined operators are the same as assigning the result to the first operand of the math operation.

For example, the following code instantly halves the value of CurrentHealth:

# Start with the original health value
var CurrentHealth : float = 75.0
	
# Reduce it to half
set CurrentHealth *= 0.5
	
# CurrentHealth is now 37.5.
Copy full snippet

Signed Floating Point Numbers

A signed float is a value that can be positive, or negative, or zero. The operator - can be used to negate a float if - appears before the float, for example -3.2. You can also use the operator + before a float to help align your code visually, but it won’t change the value of the float. In the following code, a "life drain" attack heals the attacker for one eighth of the damage inflicted on the target.

# Set up the parameters that describe the situation
DamageInflicted : float = 10.0
LifeDrainMultiplier : float = 0.125
var CurrentAttackerHealth : float = 99.0
	
# Increase current health based on damage inflicted.
set CurrentAttackerHealth += DamageInflicted * HealingMultiplier
	
# CurrentAttackerHealth is now 100.25.
Copy full snippet

Comparison

You can use the failable operator = to test if two floats are equal, and the failable operator <> to test for inequality.

Since numbers are ordered, you can use the failable operator < to test if one float is less than another float, and the failable operator > to test if one float is greater than another float.

You can use the failable operator <= to test if one float is less than or equal to another float, and the failable operator >= to test if one float is greater than or equal to another float.

NaN is comparable like other floats, and NaN is larger than all other floats and equal to itself.

# Set up the parameters that describe the situation
DamageInflicted : float = 10.0
LifeDrainMultiplier : float = 0.125
var CurrentAttackerHealth : float = 99.0
MaxAttackerHealth : float = 100.0
	
# Increase current health based on damage inflicted.
set CurrentAttackerHealth += DamageInflicted * HealingMultiplier
	
# Ensure that the attacker does not heal beyond their maximum health
if (CurrentAttackerHealth > MaxAttackerHealth):
    # Too high! Reduce to the maximum value.
    set CurrentAttackerHealth = MaxAttackerHealth
	
# CurrentAttackerHealth is now 100.0.
Copy full snippet

Standard Library

The standard library provides functions to help with creating and using floats, and common math structures and functions. Refer to the Verse API Reference for more details on these functions.