Maybe

n.errors := case n.lookupName of
            | nothing() -> ["error!"]
            | just(_) -> []
            end;

Silver does not have ‘null’ values, unlike languages such as Java or C++, as these are a constant source of errors. Instead, if one wishes for a value to potentially be absent, that must be reflected in its type. The Maybe type accomplishes this.

The type is written Maybe<a> where a is a type.

The constructors of this type are:

abstract production just
top::Maybe<a> ::= v::a

abstract production nothing
top::Maybe<a> ::=

where nothing represents null, and just is used otherwise.

Information is extracted from a Maybe using two attributes. isJust determines whether there is information present or not. fromJust returns the value wrapped up inside the Maybe, assuming it is a just. (Otherwise, an unrecoverable error occurs, similar to asking for the head of nil.)

Example:

function fromMaybe
a ::= otherwise::a ifJust::Maybe<a>
{
  return if ifJust.isJust
         then ifJust.fromJust
         else otherwise;
}

This function will return the wrapped value from a Maybe if it is present, and if not, will return the default value specified.

The above example is actually a standard function for operating on Maybes.