Boolean (true or false)
A boolean is a true or false value, and you type them just like that, true
and false
.
Often in programming, we need to ask a true or false question, like:
- "Is this class in the current semester?"
- "Is this person's birthday today?"
When we ask those questions, we get a boolean value returned.
Functions that return boolean values
The functions true?
and false?
are used to test if a value is either true or false.
The =
function is used to compare two values. If they are equal, then true
is returned, if not then its false
Other functions (also known as predicates) also return true
or false
odd?
andeven?
will tell you if a number is odd or even
Evaluate the Boolean values and functions that return boolean values in the REPL
Type some expressions to test out the truthiness of things.
Look at the truthiness reference guide for more examples
;; (true? (= 1 1))
(false? (= 7 (+ 3 3)))
Hint
There is another value nil
, which behaves like a boolean in terms of truthiness.
But, nil
means no value at all and not a boolean
Boolean values are often used in functions that evaluate a condition, such as for
or cond
.
Reference: Truthiness