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List Utilities

TinyPanda provides a set of built-in functions designed to safely interact with, modify, and inspect lists.

Core Operations​

first​

Retrieves the very first element (index 0) from the list. Returns null if the list is empty.

  • Arguments: list
  • Returns: Any | null
bamboo name = ["bamboo", "tinypanda", "aprim"];
echoln(first(name)); // Outputs: aprim

echoln(first([])); // Outputs: null

last​

Retrieves the absolute last element from the list. Returns null if the list is empty.

  • Arguments: list
  • Returns: Any | null
bamboo numbers = [1, 2, 99];
echoln(last(numbers)); // Outputs: 99

rest​

Returns a fresh copy of the list containing every item except for the first element. Returns null if the list is empty.

  • Arguments: list
  • Returns: List | null
bamboo numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4];
bamboo restNum = rest(numbers);
echoln(restNum); // Outputs: [2, 3, 4]

Mutation Operations​

append​

Adds an element directly to the end of a list, mutating the original structure in-place. It returns an integer representing the updated length of the list.

  • Arguments: list, value (Any type)
  • Returns: Integer
bamboo myList = [10, 20];
bamboo length = append(myList, "panda");

echoln(length); // Outputs: 3
echoln(myList);   // Outputs: [10, 20, "panda"]

drop​

Removes the very last element from a list, mutating the original list in-place. It returns the item that was dropped, or null if the list was already empty.

  • Arguments: list
  • Returns: Any | null
bamboo items = [10, 20, fn(){ "hello"; }()];
bamboo dropped = drop(items);

echoln(dropped, " ", whatIs(dropped)); // Outputs: hello STRING
echoln(items);  // Outputs: [10, 20]

Search & Utility Operations​

contains​

Checks whether a target value exists within a list. This checks both the type and the value. For example, a number like 100 will not match a string like "100".

  • Arguments: list, value (Any type)
  • Returns: Boolean
bamboo items = [100, "200", true];

echoln(contains(items, 100));   // Outputs: true
echoln(contains(items, "100")); // Outputs: false (Strict type protection)

posOf​

Locates the 0-based index position of an element inside the list. Returns -1 if the value cannot be found or if there is a mismatch in data types.

  • Arguments: list, value (Any type)
  • Returns: Integer
bamboo myList = ["aprim", 55, false];

echoln(posOf(myList, 55));      // Outputs: 1
echoln(posOf(myList, "aprim")); // Outputs: 0
echoln(posOf(myList, "55"));    // Outputs: -1

join​

Converts every individual element inside a list to its string representation and joins them together using a string separator.

  • Arguments: list, separator (String)
  • Returns: String
bamboo data = [42, true, "hello"];
bamboo result = join(data, ", ");

echoln(result); // Outputs: "42, true, hello"

reverse​

Reverses the order of elements in a list or characters in a string.

  • Arguments: list
  • Returns: list
bamboo nums = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
echoln(reverse(nums));   // [5, 4, 3, 2, 1]
echoln(nums);            // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]