Language Introduction

MCA is a macro language. This means that instead of writing code that will run at runtime (like normal programming languages), MCA code will run at compile time, and be used to generate the runtime code (i.e MCIL). MCA also provides a standard library, which includes functions for string operations, mathematical operations, error handling, and some advanced code generation.

The syntax is primarily C-based, however it also borrows from Assembly, and of course the Minecraft command syntax.

Macros

The majority of operations in MCA are completed with macros. Macros are pieces of code that can be repeated in other locations.

Here is an example of a simple macro:

Code:

// define the macro
#SAY_HELLO /say hello;

// use the macro
SAY_HELLO;

Becomes:

/say hello

You can think of macros as the equivalent of functions in standard programming languages. Just like functions, macros can also have parameters passed to them. This allows you to pass values into the macro:

Code:

// define the macro
#GET_ONE_MORE(number) number + 1;

// use the macro
/say {GET_ONE_MORE(1)};

Becomes:

/say 2

All of the above examples only allow us to define an "expression" (e.g. addition, or a command) macro. To create more powerful macros, we can use blocks.

Code:

// define the macro
#SAY_AND_ADD(number) {
    /say The number is {number};
    return number + 1;
}

/say And the next number is {SAY_AND_ADD(2)};

Becomes:

/say The number is 2
/say And the next number is 3

For more info on macros, see the Macro reference page.

Control statements

Just like regular programming languages, MCA supports control statements, like if, while, and switch. Unlike regular languages, however, these are run at compile time. For example, this means that it is not possible to check if a player exists in a certain radius with an if statement - instead, branching should be used for this.

MCA has 3 control statements:

  • if/else - conditionally executes code
  • while/dowhile - executes code continuously while a condition is true
  • switch - executes different code based on different values

For more info on control statements, see the Control statements reference page.