Tutorial: Working with Data Types

Every computer program works with data: whether it’s keeping track of a player’s score, greeting a user by name, or checking if a setting is switched on or off.

In Pith, you don’t have to wrestle with complicated type declarations. You just write your value, and Pith figures out the type automatically!

1. Numbers: Counting and Measuring

Pith handles both whole numbers and decimals naturally.

Whole Numbers (Integers)

Use whole numbers for counting items, tracking scores, or measuring age:

score = 100
level = 1
items_collected = 5
temperature = -4    # Negative numbers work just as easily!

Decimals (Floating-Point Numbers)

When you need to measure something with precision (like money or percentages), add a decimal point:

price = 19.99
multiplier = 1.5
pi = 3.14159

You can do math with numbers freely using +, -, *, and /:

total = price * 2
print "Total cost: " + total

2. Text (Strings)

Text in Pith is called a string. You write text by enclosing words between double quotes "...":

player_name = "Alex"
message = "Welcome to the game!"

Joining Text Together

You can glue pieces of text together using the + symbol:

greeting = "Hello, " + player_name + "!"
print greeting    # prints "Hello, Alex!"

You can even add numbers directly into text messages:

score = 250
print "Your score is: " + score   # prints "Your score is: 250"

3. True & False (Booleans)

Sometimes your program needs to know if a statement is true or false. In Pith, decisions evaluate to:

• 1 for True (yes, active, enabled)
• 0 for False (no, inactive, disabled)

is_logged_in = 1
has_key = 0

if is_logged_in
    print "Welcome back!"
end

if not has_key
    print "The door is locked."
end

Conditions like score > 50 or name == "Alex" automatically produce 1 or 0.

4. Power Feature: Exact Sizes (When You Need Extra Control)

One of Pith’s greatest strengths is that it’s as easy as Python, but gives you the low-level power of C or Rust whenever you want it.

If you are building games, networking tools, or high-performance apps and want to limit a number to an exact size, you can add an optional type with a colon ::

# u8 means "unsigned 8-bit integer": holds whole numbers from 0 to 255
byte_value: u8 = 200

# i32 means standard 32-bit integer: holds numbers up to 2 billion
large_count: i32 = 1000000

Popular Sizes at a Glance

Automatic Safety Checks

If you use an exact size, Pith protects you from putting the wrong value into it before your program even runs:

score: u8 = 500     # Error: 500 is too large for u8 (max is 255)

Next Steps

Now that you know what kinds of values you can work with:

• Math & Logic: Learn how to add, compare, and check conditions
• If Statements & Loops: Guide how your program makes choices