This appendix includes descriptions of differences between the RL Language and Java languages.
This section lists the RL differences from Java.
RL does not include interfaces or methods.
RL global variables are similar to Java static class variables, but there is one instance for each rule session.
RL does not have a static keyword.
RL has rulesets instead of packages. Rulesets group definitions and actions.
Instances of RL and Java classes can be asserted as facts in working memory.
RL facts are not garbage collected; they must be explicitly retracted.
RL is interpreted. There is no compilation or class loading. Classes and functions must be defined before they are used.
RL classes may not contain constructors or methods, only data fields. The data fields behave like Java bean properties.
Java bean properties can be accessed as fields in RL.
The new operator can explicitly assign values to named properties, regardless of whether a constructor is defined. The fact operator can match values to named properties and retrieve, using the var keyword, values from named properties. A property is either a Java bean property, for Java objects, or a field, for RL objects.
RL arrays are limited to one dimension.
The if and while actions must be in a block, enclosed in curly braces ({}).
RL does not include a switch action, continue statement, break statement, or labeled statements for breaking out of nested loops.
An RL for loop cannot contain multiple comma separated initialization or update expressions.
RL does not support bitwise & and | operators.
RL supports function overloading and Java method overloading using best fit.
RL variables must be initialized when they are defined.
For RL and Java objects, == always invokes the object equals method. RL does not allow testing for object reference equality. For objects,!= does not test for inequality of object references, but rather is the negation of the equals methods.
Thus, the statement:
if (object1 != object2){}
Is equivalent to the statement:
if (! (object1.equals(object2)){}
Forward references to classes or functions is not allowed.
In Java the Java Bean introspector will include write only properties. RL does not include such properties as Beans, since they cannot be reasoned on in a rule. Thus, in order for Java fact type bean properties to be properly accessed in RL they must have both a getter and setter. Properties which have a setter but not a getter, that is write-only properties, are not allowed in the RL new syntax.
For example, if a bean Foo only has the method setProp1(int i), then you cannot use the following in RL, Foo f = new Foo(prop1: 0)