Mapping

## Fractal Formula File

The fractal formula file has a structure like this:

       fractal
       {
          mapping {
             ...
          }

          colors {
             ...
          }

          formula {
             ...
          }
       }

The details of each section can be found by following the appropriate link, this document will focus on the high-level characteristics of the formula file.

Here are some overall notes:

- The formula file must begin with the fractal keyword which is followed by the sections enclosed within '{' and '}'.

- All keywords in the fractal formula file are case sensitive. This means that:

  - fractal
  - mapping
  - colors
  - formula

  will be recognized but:

  - FRACTAL
  - Mapping
  - CoLoRs
  - forMULA

  will not be

- The sections must appear in the order shown above, but not all the sections are required. Here is a summary:

  Section Name | Required?
  --- | ---
  mapping | yes
  colors | no
  formula | yes

- Whitespace is ignored, you could write your formula file all on one single line if you wanted to.

- The formula file allows you to place comments inside the file, three styles of comments are supported:

  - C style comments, where everything between /* and */ is treated as a comment

  - C++ style comments, where everything between // and the end of the line is treated as a comment

  - Script style comments, where everything between # and the end of the line is treated as a comment

  Here are some examples of the three comment styles

           /* -- This is a C style comment,
                 note that it can span multiple lines -- */

           // This c++ style comment ends at the end of this line

           # So does this script style comment