An object contains a set of fields, where each field is described by its name and type. An object type may be defined as either open or closed. Open objects (instances of open object types) are permitted to contain fields that are not part of the type definition, while closed objects do not permit their instances to carry extra fields. An example type definition for an object is:
create type SoldierType as open {
name: string?,
rank: string,
serialno: int
};
Syntactically, object constructors are surrounded by curly braces "{...}". Some examples of legitimate instances of the above type include:
{ "name": "Joe Blow", "rank": "Sergeant", "serialno": 1234567 }
{ "rank": "Private", "serialno": 9876543 }
{ "name": "Sally Forth", "rank": "Major", "serialno": 2345678, "gender": "F" }
The first instance has all of the type's prescribed content. The second instance is missing the name field, which is fine because it is optional (due to the ?). The third instance has an extra field; that is fine because the type definition specifies that it is open (which is also true by default, if open is not specified). To more tightly control object content, specifying closed instead of open in the type definition for SoldierType would have made the third example instance an invalid instance of the type.
An array is a container that holds a fixed number of values. Array constructors are denoted by brackets: "[...]".
An example would be
["alice", 123, "bob", null]
A multiset is a generalization of the concept of a set that, unlike a set, allows multiple instances of the multiset's elements. Multiset constructors are denoted by two opening curly braces followed by data and two closing curly braces, like "{{...}}".
An example would be
{{"hello", 9328, "world", [1, 2, null]}}