Structured output

Most expressions return a number, string, array, or map. An output value carries an additional promise about how it should be presented. A table remains a table, a plotted curve remains a graphic, and a report remains a sequence of document parts. That lets the CLI, RiX Web, and a notebook choose an appropriate renderer without asking your calculation to produce HTML or SVG itself.

Output is still a value

Create an output value with a system constructor, bind it like any other value, then return it. RiX Web renders this small table as a table; a text-only host can still show the same headers and rows faithfully.

Runnable RiXRun cell

results := .Table( ["measurement", "exact value"], [["width", 3 / 2], ["height", 7 / 4], ["area", 21 / 8]] ); results ;

The value is portable data, not a browser widget. Keep the calculation that produces it separate from the choice to show it here, in a report, or in a future export.

Choose the shape that matches the meaning

• Use .Table for labeled rows and columns of data.
• Use .Grid when spacing and rules are part of mathematical notation.
• Use .Fragment, .Heading, .Paragraph, and .Figure for documents.
• Use .Slide and .Slides for an ordered presentation.
• Use core .Graphics plus optional .plot and .draw plugins for portable two-dimensional scenes.

The following lessons give each of these forms enough room to explore. Start with tables and grids if your output is primarily data; go straight to Drawing with .Graphics and .draw when you want to construct a diagram from shapes.

One calculation, several destinations

This polynomial is ordinary exact RiX data. The next lessons will use the same coefficient array both in a table and in a graphic.

Runnable RiXRun cell

coefficients := [1, -2, -1]; valueAtThree := 3 ^ 2 - 2 * 3 - 1; [coefficients, valueAtThree] ;