^- casts a value to a named type: it checks the value fits and relabels it.

^-(@ 42) is 42.

irregular forms:

a leading backtick cast - the type in backticks, then the value - is ^-

:* makes a tuple of many elements, nesting to the right.

:*(1 2 3) is [1 2 3].

irregular forms:

[a b c d] is :*(a b c d)