Skip to content
Open Saka

Glossary

Term Meaning
action A change you ask for, such as an update or a procedure call. It keeps all its changes or none.
Bag An unordered collection of Values that allows repeats. Every expression gives a Bag.
cardinality How many occurrences a Bag may hold: ! one, ? zero or one, + one or more, * any number.
construction Adding a member to a role with its properties, as in Book(title: "Dune", pages: 412).
contract A Set and a cardinality: which Values a Bag may hold, and how many.
enum A Set with named members, such as set enum Size = {Small, Large}.
Flow A computation named with def. It reads data without changing it.
function A Flow with parameters.
local A name declared with let inside braces.
Map A pair key -> value: a Record with the fields k and v.
module A group of declarations: a file, or a mod block.
multiplicity How many times a Value appears in a Bag. 2'3 means three copies of 2.
pipeline A Bag passed through steps such as map, if, and by, read from left to right.
prelude The standard library names that need no prefix, such as sum and count.
procedure A named change, declared with proc.
property Data that each member of a role has, such as Book::title.
query view A grid of query results that updates as the data changes.
Record A Value with named fields, such as (name: "Ada", born: 1815).
ref The identity of one member of a role, such as one book.
REPL The console where you enter declarations, expressions, and changes.
role A kind of thing in the database, such as Book. Its members are refs.
role view The query view the app makes for each role declared in your database’s files.
Set A description of the Values a Bag may hold, such as num.
standard library The modules that come with SakaQL, such as str and num.
stored value Data kept with var, which can change, or val, which cannot.
Tuple A Value with numbered positions, such as [3, 4].
update A change to stored data, such as visits += 1. An update block makes several changes at once.
Value One piece of data: a number, string, Boolean, ref, Record, Tuple, Map, or enum member.