Example 7-6. Example:
void |
void_expression ==>
void |
A void expression returns a value whose type is determined from context. void is the value that a variable of the type receives when it is declared but not explicitly initialized. The value of void for abstract, reference, and bound variables is a special value that represents the absence of a reference to an object. The value of void for boolean variables is false (See Boolean literal expressions) and for other immutable types it is determined by recursively setting each attribute and array element to void. The built-in immutable types are defined in terms of arrays of BOOL and so have all their bits set to false by this rule. For numerical types, this results in the appropriate version of 'zero' (see See Built-in classes).
void expressions may appear as the initializer for a constant or shared attribute, as the right hand side of an assignment statement, as the return value in a return or yield statement, as the value of one of the expressions in a case statement, as the exception object in a raise statement, or as an argument value in a method call or in a creation expression (See Creation expressions). In this last case, the argument is ignored in resolving overloading.
It is a fatal error to access object attributes of a void variable of reference type or to make any calls on a void variable of abstract type. An explicit 'void' expression may not appear as the left argument of the dot '.' operator (See Method call expressions).