# Primitives

**(assert-exception *form*)**

Evaluates *form*. If *form* evaluates to an exception signal,
`assert-exception` returns `#t`. Otherwise, it raises an error indicating that
no exception was thrown by *form*. This primitive is useful for testing code
that is expected to throw exceptions.

```lisp
(assert-exception (throw "This is an exception."))
;; -> #t

(assert-exception (+ 1 2))
;; -> Error
```

---

**(assert-error *form*)**

Evaluates *form*. If *form* results in an **error signal**, `assert-error` returns `#t`. Otherwise, it throws an error indicating that *form* did not produce an error. This primitive is useful for writing tests that verify if specific code paths correctly raise errors.

```lisp
(assert-error (error "This is an error."))
;; -> #t

(assert-error (+ 1 2))
;; -> Error
```

---

**(try *expression* *catch-function*)**

The `try` primitive evaluates the given ***expression***. If the evaluation of ***expression*** results in an **exception signal**, the ***catch-function*** is then invoked with the exception's return value as its sole argument. If ***expression*** evaluates without an exception, its result is returned directly, and the ***catch-function*** is not called. If the second argument, ***catch-function***, is not a valid function, `try` will signal a syntax error.

```lisp
(try
  (throw "Alas!")
  (lambda (e) (concat "Caught exception: " e)))
;; -> "Caught exception: Alas!"

(try
  (+ 1 2)
  (lambda (e) (concat "Caught exception: " e)))
;; -> 3

(try
  (+ 1 2)
  'not-a-function)
;; -> Error: try: syntax error, catch is not a function.
```

---

**(load *filename*)**

Evaluates the Lisp expressions contained in the file specified by `filename`. The `filename` argument must be a string. This primitive can only be called from the top-level environment.

```lisp
(load "my-program.lisp")
;; -> <Result of the last expression in my-program.lisp>
```

---

**(return *expression*)**

Evaluates `expression` and returns its value from the current **function**. If `expression` is omitted, `return` evaluates to **nil**. It's important to note that `return` only exits functions and does not break out of `let` blocks or other control structures.

```lisp
(defun my-func (x)
    (if (> x 10)
        (return "Value too large!")
        (+ x 5)))
;; -> my-func

(my-func 5)
;; -> 10

(my-func 12)
;; -> "Value too large!"
```

---

**(break)**

This primitive immediately exits the innermost enclosing loop or iteration construct. It's analogous to the `break` statement in C. The `break` primitive takes no arguments.

```lisp
(defun count-to-five ()
    (let ((i 0))
        (while #t
            (setq i (+ i 1))
            (when (> i 5)
                (break))
            (print i))))
;; -> count-to-five

(count-to-five)
;; 1
;; 2
;; 3
;; 4
;; 5
;; -> ()
```