Word Forms

Numbers need the right words around them: 1 apple but 2 apples, 1st but 2nd. A bool in a slot prints 1 when true, which is rarely what a sign should say. The Format String gate can pick these words itself, in the template.

Contents

• Code
• Run
• Under the Hood
• Modify
• Make
• Good to Know

chip2 "Counter"
chip "Sign"
button Held -> chip2 addRed
chip2 red -> chip presses
switch Enabled -> chip isOpen
chip doorText -> decal1 Text
chip appleText -> decal2 Text
chip placeText -> decal3 Text

Code

@left in isOpen: bool
@left in presses: int
@right out doorText = Fmt("Door: {A:Open=Closed}", isOpen)
@right out appleText = Fmt("{A} {A}|plural(one=apple,other=apples)", presses)
@right out placeText = Fmt("You came {A}{A}|ordinal(one=st,two=nd,few=rd,other=th)", presses)

• {A:Open=Closed} is an option for a bool: the word before = when the value is true, the word after it when false.
• {A}|plural(...) is a word form. A slot followed by a bar and a form prints a word picked by the value, instead of the value itself. The form lists words by category: one is the word for a count of one, other the word for larger counts. That is why the template has {A} twice: the first prints the number, the second its word.
• {A}|ordinal(...) picks an ending for a place: one, two, few and other are the categories the gate sorts places into, giving 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

After one press, what do the signs say? After two?

Run

1. Compile the chip and paste it in-game. Place a Switch, a Button and three bricks with a Text Decal.
2. Paste the counter chip from Interpolation. Wire the Button’s Held to its addRed, its red to presses, and the Switch’s Enabled to isOpen. Wire the three outputs to the three Text Decals’ Text.
3. Flip the switch: Door: Open, Door: Closed. Press the button and watch the words change with the number.
4. Find out two things the lesson does not tell you. What does appleText say before the first press? What does placeText say at 11, 12 and 13?

Under the Hood

Open the chip: three Format String gates and nothing else. The words are inside each gate’s Format String, and the gate picks them as the value changes. No compare or select gates do the choosing.

By hand, the plural alone takes a compare and a select: let word = if presses == 1 then "apple" else "apples". The ordinal would take a chain of them.

These templates stay real gates even when every value is a constant: the compiler leaves options and word forms for the game to apply.

Modify

1. A form can insert the value itself. This prints one apple for 1 and 3 apples for 3:

   @left in presses: int
   @right out basket = Fmt("{A}|plural(one=one apple,other={A} apples) in the basket", presses)
   

   Here the number appears only inside the other form, so there is one {A} before the bar.

2. Two values with their own words. Add a second Button, counted on the counter’s blue, on coins: Fmt("{A} {A}|plural(one=player,other=players) found {B} {B}|plural(one=coin,other=coins)", presses, coins).

3. Mix an ordinal and a bool option. place <= 3 is a bool, so {B} can turn it into words:

   @left in place: int
   @right out result = Fmt("{A}{A}|ordinal(one=st,two=nd,few=rd,other=th) place. Medal: {B:Yes=No}", place, place <= 3)
   

Make

Make a door sign that reads The door is open. It has been opened 1 time., with the right word for open or closed and for time or times. Count the openings in a var that a handler adds to each time the switch turns on, as in Remembering Values.

switch Enabled -> chip isOpen
chip text -> decal Text

Good to Know

• A bool in a plain slot prints 1 when true. Use {A:Yes=No}, with your own words, to show it on a sign.

See String Formatting for the reference.

Next: Templates Chosen at Run Time.