initial Abilities language reference

www/content/abilities.md

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+
+# Abilities
+
+An Ability defines a set of functions that can be implemented by different types.
+
+Abilities are used to constrain the types of function arguments to only those which implement the required functions. 
+
+The function `toJson` below is an example which uses the `Encoding` Ability.
+
+```roc
+toJson : a -> List U8 where a implements Encoding
+toJson = \val -> 
+    val |> Encode.toBytes JSON.encoder
+```
+
+By specifying the type variable `a` implements the `Encoding` Ability, this function can make use of `Encode.toBytes` and `JSON.encoder` to serialise `val`, without knowing its specific type.
+
+All types which implement the `Encoding` Ability can therefore use the `Encode.toBytes` (and also `Encode.append`) functions to conveniently serialise values to bytes.
+
+- [Builtins](#builtins)
+  - [`Eq` Ability](#eq-ability)
+  - [`Hash` Ability](#hash-ability)
+  - [`Sort` Ability](#sort-ability)
+  - [`Encoding` Ability](#encoding-ability)
+  - [`Decoding` Ability](#decoding-ability)
+  - [`Inspect` Ability](#inspect-ability)
+- [Opaque Types](#opaque-types)
+  - [Derived Implementions](#derived-implementions)
+  - [Custom Implementations ](#custom-implementations)
+- [Advanced Topic: Defining a new Ability](#defining-a-new-ability)
+
+## [Builtins](#builtins) {#builtins}
+
+Roc's Builtin types such as numbers, records, and tags, are automatically derived for the builtin Abilities. This means that you can use these Abilties without needing to provide a custom implementation.
+
+### [`Eq` Ability](#eq-ability) {#eq-ability}
+
+The `Eq` Ability defines the `isEq` function, which can be used to compare two values for structural equality. The infix operator `==` can be used as shorthand for `isEq`.
+
+`Eq` is not derived for `F32` or `F64` as these types do not support structural equality. If you need to compare floating point numbers, you must provide your own function for comparison.
+
+**Example** showing the use of `isEq` and `==` to compare two values.
+
+```roc
+Colors : [Red, Green, Blue]
+
+red = Red
+blue = Blue
+
+expect isEq red Red # true
+expect red == blue # false
+```
+
+**Definition** of the `Eq` Ability.
+
+```roc
+# Bool.roc
+Eq implements
+    isEq : a, a -> Bool where a implements Eq
+```
+
+**Structural equality** is defined as follows:
+1. Tags are equal if their name and also contents are equal.
+2. Records are equal if their fields are equal.
+3. The collections `Str`, `List`, `Dict`, and `Set` are equal iff they are the same length and their elements are equal.
+4. `Num` values are equal if their numbers are equal. However, if both inputs are *NaN* then `isEq` returns `Bool.false`. Refer to `Num.isNaN` for more detail.
+5. Functions cannot be compared for structural equality, therefore Roc cannot derive `isEq` for types that contain functions.
+
+### [`Hash` Ability](#hash-ability) {#hash-ability}
+
+The `Hash` Ability defines the `hash` function, which can be used to hash a value. The `hash` function takes a `Hasher` as an argument, which is used to compute the hash.
+
+```roc
+# Hash.roc
+Hash implements
+    hash : hasher, a -> hasher where a implements Hash, hasher implements Hasher
+```
+
+### [`Sort` Ability](#sort-ability) {#sort-ability}
+
+**Implementation Status** - Design Proposal, implementation has not yet started. See [zulip discussion thread](https://roc.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/304641-ideas/topic/ordering.2Fsorting.20ability/near/395539545) for more information. If you would like to help implement this, please let us know.
+
+The `Sort` Ability defines the `compare` function, which can be used to compare two values for ordering. 
+
+`Sort` is not derived for `Str` as working with utf-8 strings which is a variable length encoding scheme is complex and is achived through a dedicated library such as [roc-lang/unicode](https://github.com/roc-lang/unicode). 
+
+**Proposed Definition** of the `Sort` Ability.
+
+```roc
+# Sort.roc
+Sort implements
+    compare : a, a -> [LessThan, Equals, GreaterThan] where a implements Sort
+```
+
+### [`Encoding` Ability](#encoding-ability) {#encoding-ability}
+
+The `Encoding` Ability defines `toEncoder` which can be used with an Encoder to serialise value from Roc to bytes using the `Encoding.toBytes` and `Encoding.append` functions.
+
+Functions are not serialisable, therefore Roc does not derive `Encoding` for types that contain functions.
+
+Encoding for `Dict` values **has not been implemened**, see [#5294](https://github.com/roc-lang/roc/issues/5294) for more details. If you would like to help implement this, please let us know.
+
+**Example** showing the use of `Encoding.toBytes` to serialise a Roc `List (Str, U32)` to a [JSON](https://www.json.org/json-en.html) encoded string.
+
+```roc
+bytes : List U8
+bytes = "[[\"Apples\",10],[\"Bananas\",12],[\"Oranges\",5]]" |> Str.toUtf8
+
+fruitBasket : List (Str, U32)
+fruitBasket = [
+    ("Apples", 10),
+    ("Bananas", 12),
+    ("Oranges", 5)
+] 
+
+expect Encode.toBytes fruitBasket json == bytes # true
+```
+
+**Definition** of the `Encoding` Ability.
+
+```roc
+# Encode.roc
+Encoding implements
+    toEncoder : val -> Encoder fmt where val implements Encoding, fmt implements EncoderFormatting
+```
+
+### [`Decoding` Ability](#decoding-ability) {#decoding-ability}
+
+The `Decoding` Ability defines `decoder` which can be used with an Decoder to de-serialise from bytes to Roc values using the `Decoding.fromBytesPartial` and `Decoding.fromBytes` functions.
+
+Decoding for `Dict` values **has not been implemened**, see [#5294](https://github.com/roc-lang/roc/issues/5294) for more details. If you would like to help implement this, please let us know.
+
+**Example** showing the use of `Decoding.fromBytes` to decode a Roc `List (U32, Str)` from a [JSON](https://www.json.org/json-en.html) encoded string.
+
+```roc
+bytes : List U8
+bytes = 
+    """
+    [
+        [ 10, \"Green Bottles\" ], 
+        [ 12, \"Buckle My Shoe\" ],
+        [ 5, \"Little Ducks\" ]
+    ]
+    """
+    |> Str.toUtf8 
+
+result : Result (List (U32, Str)) _
+result = Decode.fromBytes bytes json
+
+expect result == Ok [(10, "Green Bottles"), (12, "Buckle My Shoe"), (5, "Little Ducks")] # true
+```
+
+**Definition** of the `Decoding` Ability.
+
+```roc
+# Decode.roc
+Decoding implements
+    decoder : Decoder val fmt where val implements Decoding, fmt implements DecoderFormatting
+```
+
+### [`Inspect` Ability](#inspect-ability) {#inspect-ability}
+
+**Implementation Status** - Accepted Proposal, implementation in-progress. See [#5775](https://github.com/roc-lang/roc/pull/5775) for progress on auto-deriving `Inspect` for builtin types.
+
+The `Inspect` Ability defines the `toInspector` function which can be used with an Inspector to insepct Roc values using the `Inspect.inspect` function. 
+
+Example Inspectors:
+- A [LogFormatter](https://github.com/roc-lang/roc/blob/main/examples/LogFormatter.roc) which creates a string representation of Roc values, for use e.g. debug printing to the console. 
+- A [GuiFormatter](https://github.com/roc-lang/roc/blob/main/examples/GuiFormatter.roc) which creates a GUI representation of Roc values for use e.g. debug visualization in a graphical application. 
+
+**Definition** of the `Inspect` Ability.
+
+```roc
+# Inspect.roc
+Inspect implements
+    toInspector : val -> Inspector f where val implements Inspect, f implements InspectFormatter
+```
+
+## [Opaque Types](#opaque-types) {#opaque-types}
+
+Opaque Types are used to hide implementation details of a type. Modules export functions to define a *public* API for working with a type. 
+
+By default abilities are not derieved for Opaque Types. However, [Derived](#derived-implementions) and [Custom](#custom-implementations) implementations are two ways to work with abilities for your Opaque Types.
+
+### [Derived Implementions](#derived-implementions) {#derived-implementions}
+
+Abilities can be automatically derived for Opaque Types where the type is an alias for a builtin, or it is composed of other types which also implement that ability. 
+
+For example you can automatically derive the `Eq` and `Hash` abilities using `implements [ Eq, Hash ]`.
+
+**Example** showing how to automatically derive the `Eq` and `Hash` abilities for an Opaque Type.
+
+```roc
+StatsDB := Dict Str { score : Dec, average : Dec } implements [ Eq, Hash ]
+
+add : StatsDB, Str, { score : Dec, average : Dec } -> StatsDB
+add = \@StatsDB db, name, stats -> db |> Dict.insert name stats |> @StatsDB
+
+expect 
+    db1 = Dict.empty {} |> @StatsDB |> add "John" { score: 10, average: 10 }
+    db2 = Dict.empty {} |> @StatsDB |> add "John" { score: 10, average: 10 }
+
+    db1 == db2 # true
+```
+
+### [Custom Implementations](#custom-implementations) {#custom-implementations}
+
+You can provide a custom implementation for an ability. This may be useful if a type is composed of other types which do not implement an ability, or if you would like to override the default behaviour.
+
+**Example** showing how to provide a custom implementation for the `Eq` ability.
+
+```roc
+Color := [
+        RGBAu8 U8 U8 U8 U8,
+        RGBAf32 F32 F32 F32 F32,
+    ]
+    implements [
+        Eq { isEq: colorEquality },
+    ]
+
+# Note that Eq is not available for an F32, hence we provide a custom implementation here.
+colorEquality : Color, Color -> Bool
+colorEquality = \a, b -> colorToU8 a == colorToU8 b
+
+colorToU8 : Color -> (U8, U8, U8, U8)
+colorToU8 = \@Color c->
+    when c is
+        RGBAu8 r g b a -> (r, g, b, a)
+        RGBAf32 r g b a -> (f32toU8 r, f32toU8 g, f32toU8 b, f32toU8 a)
+
+f32toU8 : F32 -> U8
+f32toU8 = \f ->
+    Num.floor (f * 255.0)
+
+fromU8 : U8, U8, U8, U8 -> Color
+fromU8 = \r, g, b, a -> @Color (RGBAu8 r g b a)
+
+fromI16 : I16, I16, I16, I16 -> Result Color [OutOfRange]
+fromI16 = \r, g, b, a ->
+    if r < 0 || r > 255 || g < 0 || g > 255 || b < 0 || b > 255 || a < 0 || a > 255 then 
+        Err OutOfRange
+    else 
+        Ok (@Color (RGBAu8 (Num.toU8 r) (Num.toU8 g) (Num.toU8 b) (Num.toU8 a)))
+
+fromF32 : F32, F32, F32, F32 -> Result Color [OutOfRange]
+fromF32 = \r, g, b, a ->
+    if r < 0.0 || r > 1.0 || g < 0.0 || g > 1.0 || b < 0.0 || b > 1.0 || a < 0.0 || a > 1.0 then 
+        Err OutOfRange
+    else 
+        Ok (@Color (RGBAf32 r g b a))
+```
+
+## [Advanced Topic: Defining a new Ability](#defining-a-new-ability) {#defining-a-new-ability}
+
+It is possible to define a new Ability in addition to those provided in builtins. This should be avoided if possible and only used in rare circumstances by package authors.
+
+**Example** showing how to define a new Ability.
+
+```roc
+CustomInspect implements
+    inspectMe : val -> Str where val implements CustomInspect
+
+inspect : val -> Str where val implements CustomInspect
+inspect = \val -> inspectMe val
+
+Color := [Red, Green, Blue]
+    implements [
+        Eq,
+        CustomInspect {
+            inspectMe: inspectColor,
+        },
+    ]
+
+inspectColor : Color -> Str
+inspectColor = \@Color color ->
+    when color is
+        Red -> "Red"
+        Green -> "Green"
+        Blue -> "Blue"
+
+expect
+    [@Color Red, @Color Green, @Color Blue]
+    |> List.map inspect
+    |> Str.joinWith ","
+    |> Bool.isEq "Red,Green,Blue"
+```

www/content/docs.md

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+
 # Documentation
 
 - [builtins](/builtins) - docs for modules built into the language—`Str`, `Num`, etc.
@@ -8,7 +9,11 @@ In the future, a language reference will be on this page too.
 
 ## [Guides](#guides) {#guides}
 
-- [FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)](https://github.com/roc-lang/roc/blob/main/FAQ.md)
-- [Platforms & Applications](/platforms)
+- [Frequently Asked Questions](https://github.com/roc-lang/roc/blob/main/FAQ.md)
 - [Roc for Elm Programmers](https://github.com/roc-lang/roc/blob/main/roc-for-elm-programmers.md)
 - [Tutorial](/tutorial)
+
+## [Language Reference](#language-reference) {#language-reference}
+
+- [Platforms & Applications](/platforms)
+- [Abilities](/abilities)