Exit in Squirrel

Here’s an idiomatic code example in Squirrel that demonstrates the concept of program exit, similar to the provided Go example:

// Import the os module for exit functionality
local os = require("os");

function main() {
    // This print statement will not be executed due to the immediate exit
    ::print("This will not be printed\n");

    // Exit the program with status code 3
    os.exit(3);
}

// Call the main function
main();

// This line will never be reached
::print("This will also not be printed\n");

This Squirrel code demonstrates how to exit a program immediately with a specific status code. Here’s a breakdown of the code:

1. We import the os module, which provides the exit function.

2. The main function is defined, which contains our program logic.

3. Inside main, we have a print statement that will not be executed due to the immediate exit.

4. We use os.exit(3) to immediately terminate the program with an exit status of 3.

5. After the main function, we have another print statement that will never be reached.

To run this Squirrel script:

1. Save the code in a file, for example, exit_example.nut.
2. Run the script using the Squirrel interpreter:

$ sq exit_example.nut

The program will exit immediately with a status code of 3, and you won’t see any output on the console.

To check the exit status in a shell:

$ sq exit_example.nut
$ echo $?
3

This will display the exit status of the last executed command, which in this case is 3.

Note that Squirrel, unlike some compiled languages, doesn’t have a build step. Scripts are interpreted directly. However, if you’re using Squirrel in an embedded context or with a custom runtime, the exact method of execution might vary.

Also, be aware that in Squirrel, unlike Go’s defer, there’s no built-in mechanism to guarantee the execution of cleanup code when using os.exit(). If you need to perform cleanup operations, it’s best to do them before calling exit.

This example demonstrates how to use immediate program termination with a specific exit code in Squirrel, which can be useful for error handling or signaling specific conditions to external scripts or systems that might be running your Squirrel program.