The syntax of Vala is similar to C#, modified to better fit the GObject type system. Vala supports modern language features as the following:

• OOP (classes, abstract classes, mixin interfaces, type polymorphism)
• Namespaces
• Delegates
• Properties
• Signals
• Property change notifications
• Foreach
• Lambda expressions / Closures
• Type inference for local variables
• Generics
• Non-null types
• Assisted memory management (automatic reference counting)
• Deterministic destructors (suitable for RAII)
• Exception handling (checked exceptions)
• Asynchronous methods (coroutines)
• Preconditions and postconditions (contract programming)
• Run-time type information
• Named constructors
• Verbatim strings and string templates
• Array and string slicing
• Conditional compilation
• Dynamic and static D-Bus support
• C# like syntax
• C ABI compatibility
• Experimental:
  • Chained relational expressions
  • Regular expression literals

Keywords

• Selection: if, else, switch, case, default

• Iteration: do, while, for, foreach, in

• Jumping: break, continue, return

• Exception Handling: try, catch, finally, throw

• Synchronization: lock

• Type Declaration: class, interface, struct, enum, delegate, errordomain

• Type Modifiers: const, weak, unowned, dynamic

• Modifiers: abstract, virtual, override, signal, extern, static, async, inline, new

• Access Modifiers: public, private, protected, internal

• Method Parameters: out, ref

• Method Contract Keywords: throws, requires, ensures

• Namespaces: namespace, using

• Operator Keywords: as, is, in, new, delete, sizeof, typeof

• Access Keywords: this, base

• Literal Keywords: null, true, false

• Property Context: get, set, construct, default, value

• Construction Blocks: construct, static construct, class construct

• Other: void, var, yield, global, owned

Operators

• Arithmetic: +, -, *, /, %

• Bitwise: ~, &, |, ^, <<, >>

• Relational: <, >, <=, >=

• Equality: ==, !=

• Logic: !, &&, ||

• Assignment: =, +=, -=, *=, /=, %=, &=, |=, ^=, <<=, >>=

• Increment, Decrement: ++, --

• Pointer: &, *, ->, delete

• Conditional: ?:

• Null-Coalescing: ??

• String Concatenation: +

• Method Invocation: ()

• Member Access: .

• Index: []

• Slice: [:]

• Lambda: =>

• Casting: (Type), (!), as

• Type Checking: is

• Ownership Transfer: (owned)

• Namespace Alias Qualifier: :: (currently only with global)

• Other: new, sizeof, typeof, in