Quickstart

Notch runs two ways, interactively at the REPL and by executing a .notch file. If you have not installed Notch yet, start with Install.

Hello, Notch

Put this in a file called hello.notch:

import java.time.LocalDate

today = LocalDate.now()

for name in ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Carol']
  print('Hello, ' + name + '! Today is ' + today)
end

Three things are already on display:

• import brings a JVM type into scope (see Java Interop)
• LocalDate.now() calls a static method
• for ... in walks the list.

The REPL

Launch the interactive shell by running notch with no arguments:

notch

The prompt should appear:

notch >

Type an expression and press Enter, the result prints immediately:

notch > 1 + 1
2
notch > print('hello')
hello
notch > [1, 2, 3].size()
3

When Notch needs more input to finish a block, it will display a continuation prompt until the matching end for example:

notch > if true
      >   print('foo')
      > else
      >   print('bar')
      > end
foo

After typing if true the statement is not complete so you will be prompted with > to continue in finishing the statement.