Resources

A resource represents an opaque object where the representation and underlying implementation is completely hidden from the outside world. Resources may have associated methods, static methods, or no methods at all.

Depending on the language, records may be expressed in in different ways.

Resources can only be used through a "handle" and can be owned by either the host or the guest. Resource lifetimes are managed manually, although most languages provide some sort of reference counting or garbage collection mechanism.

Syntax

The simplest resource is an opaque "token". Users can pass this value around, but have no other way to interact with it.

resource file-descriptor

Resources can also have methods. These are functions which are associated with the resource and are implicitly given a reference to the resource when they are invoked.

resource writer {
  write: func(data: list<u8>) -> expected<unit, error>
  flush: func() -> expected<unit, error>
}

Additionally, resources can have static methods. These are often used to implement constructors.

resource request {
    static new: func() -> request

    body: async func() -> list<u8>
    headers: func() -> list<string>
}

For a more details, consult the Item: resource section (opens in a new tab) in the *.wai format.