Common programming concepts

This section covers the pieces you use in almost every Acton program: names and scope, built-in types, expressions, functions, comments, and control flow.

These pages are the foundation for the rest of the guide. Read them in order:

1. Variables, constants, and scope
2. Built-in types and literals
3. Expressions and operators
4. Functions
5. Comments
6. Control flow

Most examples use actor main(env): as the entry point because Acton programs run from a root actor. You do not need to understand actors in depth yet to follow these pages, it will be explained later.