The ::CONSTANT directive creates methods that return constant values for a class and its instances.
>>-::CONSTANT--name--value------------------------------------------->
A ::CONSTANT directive defines a method that returns a constant value. This is useful for creating named constants associated with a class.
The name is a literal string or a symbol that is taken as a constant. A method of the given name is created as both an instance method and a class method of the most recent ::CLASS directive. A ::CLASS directive is not required before a ::CONSTANT directive. If no ::CLASS directive precedes ::CONSTANT, a single constant method method is created that is not associated with a class but is accessible to the main (executable) part of a program through the .METHODS built-in object. Only one ::CONSTANT directive can appear for any method name not associated with a class. See .METHODS for more details.
The methods created by a ::CONSTANT directive are UNGUARDED and will have a return result that is specified by value. The constant value must be a single literal string or symbol that is taken as a constant. Also permitted is the single character "-" or "+" followed by a literal string or symbol that is a valid number. Here are some examples of valid constants:
::class MathConstants public ::constant pi 3.1415926 ::constant author "Isaac Asimov" ::constant absolute_zero -273.15
A ::CONSTANT directive is a shorthand syntax for creating constants associated with a class. The created name constant can be accessed using either the class object or an instance of the class itself. For example:
say "Pi is" .MathConstants~pi -- displays "Pi is 3.1415926" instance = .MathConstants~new say "Pi is" instance~pi -- also displays "Pi is 3.1415926" ::class MathConstants public ::constant pi 3.1415926