Struct

A struct is an union of pairs within a scope. A struct can contain pairs with any key type, including another struct: this is one of ALT’s more unique features.

A struct is the most important structure in ALT because it naturally defines a scope. A struct has an extra constraint (but not strictly so) that all keys should be kept disjoint in order to keep a struct lean and mean.

Disjointness is maintained because of how of union, intersection and optionality interact logically, and because a special optional pair is added to every struct during parse time. This special pair also determines whether a struct is open or closed. A struct can be turned to open or closed via the turn ~ operator. A struct is open by default.

The following example demonstrates the internal encoding of a struct: