Types

The Types enum in EliCS provides a set of predefined data types that can be used to define component schemas and system configurations. The reason for enforcing types on component data is so that the ECS framework can optimize memory usage and data access with typed arrays where possible. This approach ensures that data is stored in a contiguous block of memory, improving cache performance and reducing memory fragmentation.

Supported Types

Type	JavaScript Type	Description	Data Array Type
Types.Int8	number	8-bit integer	Int8Array
Types.Int16	number	16-bit integer	Int16Array
Types.Float32	number	32-bit floating point number	Float32Array
Types.Float64	number	64-bit floating point number	Float64Array
Types.Boolean	boolean	True/false value	Uint8Array
Types.String	string	Text string	Array<string>
Types.Object	object	JavaScript object	Array<any>
Types.Vec2	number[]	2D vector	Float32Array
Types.Vec3	number[]	3D vector	Float32Array
Types.Vec4	number[]	4D vector or quaternion	Float32Array

TypedSchema Interface

The TypedSchema interface is used to define the structure of component data or system configuration data. It consists of key-value pairs where the key is the property name and the value is an object containing the property type and default value:

interface TypedSchema<T extends Types> {
	[key: string]: { type: T; default: DefaultValueForType<T> };
}

The type property specifies the data type (from the available Types options), while default is the default value for the property. The expected type of default is determined by the value assigned in type (as shown in the JavaScript Type column in the table above).