Glossary¶

This page defines common terms used throughout the docs.

Type¶

A type describes what a value is (for example: int, str, bool) and what operations are valid on it.

Function¶

A function is a named block of code you can call. In Incan:

def add(a: int, b: int) -> int:
    return a + b

Module¶

A module is a .incn file that contains code and definitions (functions, models, constants, etc.).

Import¶

An import brings definitions from another module into the current file.

See:

Explanation: Imports and modules
How-to: Imports and modules (how-to)
Reference: Imports and modules (reference)

Result¶

Result[T, E] represents either success (Ok(T)) or failure (Err(E)), and is commonly used for typed error handling.

See: Error Handling.

Option¶

Option[T] represents either “some value” (Some(T)) or “no value” (None).

See: Error Handling.

Async¶

Async code lets a program do other work while waiting on I/O (network, disk, timers).

See: Async Programming.

rustup¶

rustup is the Rust toolchain installer and version manager. It installs rustc and cargo.

cargo¶

cargo is Rust’s build tool and package manager. Incan uses Cargo under the hood when building generated Rust projects.

PATH¶

PATH is an environment variable that controls which directories your shell searches for executable commands (like incan).

make¶

make runs Makefile targets. This repository provides canonical commands like make install, make release, and make smoke-test.

crate¶

In these docs, “crate” is used in the Rust sense (“a compiled unit/package”) and sometimes as shorthand for “the project/module root”. See: Imports and modules.