js.metaret

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Goal

Write less code, that reads clear and runs fast [Budapest 2014 slides, video, both].

Contents

• How?
• Node.js support
• Getting started: develop your app
• Getting started: test and build your app
• Bigger example
• Background
• Fun fact
• Core tests

How?

Extend JavaScript with three new keyworkds: metafun, metaret and inline to write code that is short, expressive AND runs fast.

The extended JavaScript is automatically transformed back into fast, 100% standard JavaScript.

Fast functional calls: Tail metacomposition

For tail calls (quick definition), metafun and metaret can replace function and return.

This eliminates the call stack, which speeds up the code dramatically. Mutual tail recursion is supported.

Fast imperative calls: Inlining

inline speeds up imperative calls by eliminating function call overhead.

Convention

• .jsm files may use the extra keywords metafun, metaret and inline.
• .js files contain 100% standard JavaScript.

Functional example

./jsm2js.js transforms this clear, expressive code:

metafun gcd(self, a, b) {

  if (a > b)
    metaret self, a-b, b;

  if (b > a)
    metaret self, b-a, a;

  return a;
}

into 100% standard JavaScript code that runs fast (no function call):

function gcd(a, b) {
  _L_gcd_: while (true) {

    if (a > b) {
      var _a1_ = a - b;
      a = _a1_;
      continue _L_gcd_;
    }   
   
    if (b > a) {
      var _a_ = b - a;
      var _b_ = a;
      a = _a_;
      b = _b_;
      continue _L_gcd_;
    }
   
    return a;
  }
}

Imperative example

./inline_code.js transforms this clear, expressive code:

function doSomething() { alert("done!"); }

inline doSomething();

into (pretty ugly) 100% standard JavaScript code that runs fast (function call eliminated):

function doSomething(){alert('done');} 
  {
//#INLINE_BEGIN: inline doSomething()
var _undef_,_ret_;
//#INLINE_SET_INPUT_ARGS:
//#INLINE_IMPLEMENT:
do {
{alert('done');}
} while (false);
//#INLINE_END: inline doSomething()
};

Three variants are permitted:

inline doSomething();
inline x = getSomething();
inline var x = getSomething();

Node.js support

Thanks to Iain Ballard, there is a Node.js npm package (GitHub source).

Alternatively, you can develop using just a browser, or the V8 engine alone. See "Getting started".

Getting started: develop your app

Requirements:

• A browser, or V8 (browser: maybe with a server like ./simple_server.py.)
• ./metaret_standalone.js

Example

• ./jsm_dev/example_development.jsm
• ./jsm_dev/example_development.test.js (automatically tested during build, as described below).
• Check it in a browser: ./example_development.html and live.

Getting started: test and build your app

Requirements:

• Python 3
• V8
• ./jsm_build.py

jsm_build.py (1) transforms all .jsm files back to 100%-standard JavaScript .js files, (2) automatically runs the corresponding .test.js files and (3) collate them into a single, minified .js file.

Example

jsm_build.py jsm_dev/example_development.jsm

• Output: ./jsm_out_mini/example_development.js
• Check it in a browser: ./example_production.html and live.

Bigger example

Under ./jsm_dev/:

• expl_basic.jsm and expl_basic.test.js
• expl_longer.jsm and expl_longer.test.js
• expl.js and expl.test.js

Assuming that you have installed Python 3 and V8, you can build this example into one minified file:

jsm_build.py jsm_dev/expl.js

This takes the original jsm_dev/expl*.js[m] files and produces:

• as many 100% JS-compatible files: jsm_out/expl*.js
  • ...and tests them against the corresponding .test.js files.
• one build file: jsm_out_build/expl.js
  • ...and tests it against the corresponding .test.js files.
• one minified file: jsm_out_mini/expl.js
  • ...and tests it against the corresponding .test.js files.

A test file .test.js declares one function test () { ... } which returns true if success. Any other behaviour is seen as a failure:

• test() throws an eror,
• or test() returns something else than true.

Background

If you do not know what a tail call is, you can have a look at this slide.

Earlier I implemented "mutual tail recursion optimization without trampoline" [1] for good performance, which transforms the clear, expressive but slow code (many function calls):

function gcd_rec(a, b) {

  if (a > b)
    return gcd_rec(a-b, b);

  if (b > a)
    return gcd_rec(b-a, a);

  return a;
}

into a very fast while loop (no call stack):

function gcd_loop(a, b) {
  while (a != b) {
    if (a > b) {
      a = a-b;
    }
    else if (b > a) {
      var c = a;
      a = b-a;
      b = c;
    }
  }
  return a;
}

But implementing this automatic transformation led me to write quite insane code [2].

Moreover, since the automatic transformation worked on 100% normal JavaScript, the difference remained implicit between tail calls (optimized):

// tail call: return + single function call
return gcd_rec(a-b, b);

and the other function calls (not optimized):

// not a tail call: no return statement
t.children.forEach(doSomething);

// not a single function call
return sumtree(t.left) + sumtree(t.right);

You cannot expect you whole team to know about this implicit difference, which makes it somewhat unfit to develop large-scale applications.

Instead, here we make the difference explicit using metafun and metaret instead of function and return:

// WITH function calls (call stack)
...
var v = f(x);
...
return f(x); 
...
return f(x)+g(x);
...
o.doSomething();
...

// WITHOUT function calls (no call stack)
metafun gcd(self, a, b) { // metafunction: contains metaret

  if (a > b)
    metaret self, a-b, b; // NOT a call, rather a sanitized goto

  if (b > a) {
    metaret self, b-a, a; // NOT a call, rather a sanitized goto

  return a;
}

metaret simply change the parameter values and jumps to the beginning of the metafunction. This runs fast (no call stack), implements one tiny bit of Backus' metacomposition [3], and can be seen as a sanitized sort of goto:

• you cannot just put a label anywhere and jump to it (spaghetti code).

• metaret can only jump to the beginning of a metafunction.

• therefore, you still have to think in term of clean encapsulations using metafun and metaret, just as you would using function and return.

Addition

metaret only permits a tail call, which excludes an imperative call (calling without returning).

Thus, an extra keyword inline was also added that triggers hygienic inlining, see issue #3 and expl_longer.jsm for examples.

inline can be useful to speedup imperative code. Three variants are permitted:

inline doSomething();
inline x = getSomething();
inline var x = getSomething();

Fun fact

./metaret_standalone.js was produced by building the one-liner ./jsm_dev/metaret_standalone.js:

need$( 'need$.js' );

For more details: ./build_standalone.sh

Core tests

The command-line ./test.py and its browser pendant ./test.html (live).