Workarounds

Generating Random Decimal Numbers

random only outputs decimals if its arguments are formatted as decimals, but goboscript optimizes 1.0 to 1, turning them into integers. Pass the arguments as strings to prevent this:

say random("0.0", "1.0");

Converting Strings to Numbers

Scratch arithmetic operators cast strings to numbers automatically. To force this in goboscript, use a string zero or empty string — the optimizer ignores these, unlike + 0:

numeric_value = string_variable + "0";
numeric_value = string_variable + "";

Simulating "Wait Until"

Use an until loop with an empty body:

until (condition) {}

Encapsulating Variables

Use %define to alias a long unique name to a short local one, then %undef it at the end of the file so other files can't access it directly.

lib/my_module.gs

%define private_variable __my_module__private_variable

func get_my_variable() {
    return private_variable;
}

%undef private_variable

main.gs

%include lib/my_module

onflag {
    say get_my_variable();
    # private_variable = 10; # error — alias no longer defined
}

"While" Loop Macro

Goboscript has no while loop, but you can macro it:

%define while(CONDITION) until (not (CONDITION))

onflag {
    i = 0;
    while (i < 10) {
        i++;
    }
}