Object

object is the universal non-null managed-reference type. Classes, interfaces, strings, and arrays widen to it without changing their identity.

object value = "Cloth";
object? optional = value;
println(value::typeName);

object? admits null. Primitives, enums, and structs do not widen to object; Cloth does not implicitly box values.

Identity and available operations

An object reference does not expose the concrete type’s fields and functions. Use a checked cast to obtain a more specific reference.

Equality on object compares reference identity, including for values that happen to be strings. Expressions statically typed as string use content equality instead.

Every non-null managed reference supports ::typeName. Classes report their qualified source name, strings report string, and arrays report array. Widening a reference does not change its runtime type.

Type tests and safe casts

object value = "Cloth";
bool isText = value is string;
string? text = value as string?;
if (text != null) {
  println(text::length);
}

is requires a non-null target and produces a boolean. as requires a nullable target and produces null when the runtime type does not match. is does not itself narrow a binding to the tested type.

Class checks include base classes; interface checks follow declared conformance. Null does not match a non-null type. Checked array targets are unsupported. See conversions and casts.