Scalar

A scalar is an atomic variable or constant holding one value at a time. In contrast, all other data forms can hold more than one objects.

$ 1b;
// a boolean scalar

$ true;
// a boolean scalar

$ 5;
// an int scalar

$ 119c;
// a char scalar

$ 1.2f;
// a float scalar

$ 20987.58F;
// a double scalar

$ `Hello;
// a string scalar

$ 2013.06.13;
// a date scalar

$ 2012.12M
// a month scala

$ 2016.10.12T00:00:00.001
// a timestamp scalar

$ 12:32:56.356
// a time scalar

$ x=5;
$ form x;
0
// 0 indicates that x is a scalar variable

Computation on scalars

1. Binary operations on 2 scalars: the result is a scalar.

$ add(1,2)
3

2. Binary operations between a scalar and a vector: the result is a vector.

$ mul(1 2 3, 3);
[3,6,9]