Added ex 45 optionals

(And secretly added the patches/ dir. Don't tell anybody!)

1 files changed, 52 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/exercises/45_optionals.zig b/exercises/45_optionals.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..815ba75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exercises/45_optionals.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+//
+// Sometimes you know that a variable might hold a value or
+// it might not. Zig has a neat way of expressing this idea
+// called Optionals. An optional type just has a '?' like this:
+//
+//     var foo: ?u32 = 10;
+//
+// Now foo can store a u32 integer OR null (a value storing
+// the cosmic horror of a value NOT EXISTING!)
+//
+//     foo = null;
+//
+//     if (foo == null) beginScreaming();
+//
+// Before we can use the optional value as the non-null type
+// (a u32 integer in this case), we need to guarantee that it
+// isn't null. One way to do this is to THREATEN IT with the
+// "orelse" statement.
+//
+//     var bar = foo orelse 2;
+//
+// Here, bar will either equal the u32 integer value stored in
+// foo, or it will equal 2 if foo was null.
+//
+const std = @import("std");
+
+pub fn main() void {
+    const result = deepThought();
+
+    // Please threaten the result so that answer is either the
+    // integer value from deepThought() OR the number 42:
+    var answer: u8 = result;
+
+    std.debug.print("The Ultimate Answer: {}.\n",.{answer});
+}
+
+fn deepThought() ?u8 {
+    // It seems Deep Thought's output has declined in quality.
+    // But we'll leave this as-is. Sorry Deep Thought.
+    return null;
+}
+//
+// Blast from the past:
+//
+// Optionals are a lot like error union types which can either
+// hold a value or an error. Likewise, the orelse statement is
+// like the catch statement used to "unwrap" a value or supply
+// a default value:
+//
+//    var maybe_bad: Error!u32 = Error.Evil;
+//    var number: u32 = maybe_bad catch 0;
+//