A tiny lisp compiler in javascript (not an interpreter, code compiles to javascript functions)

• lisp-2 common-lisp like (but not too much)
• indeed a lisp-3 (a macro and a function can have the same name)
• native types are javascript ones, with list = array
• no car/cdr (first is (aref x 0) and rest is (slice x 1))
• push works like javascript push (adding at the end!)
• case sensitive, name mangling (#'geo2d:p? -> fgeo2d$$p$63_)
• true / false / null / undefined / NaN
• global / lexical / special (defined by defvar)
• setf / incf / decf with user-defined specializations
• defmacro, macrolet, symbol-macrolet, defmacro/f
• back quoting
• optional and keyword arguments, destructuring lambda lists
• tagbody/go, block/return/return-from, unwind-protect, throw/catch
• js-code escaping
• defmethod for dispatching on generic conditions
• defobject and defproperty macros for js-style classes
• module support (similar to CL packages)
• treeshaker/minifier
• compile-only implementation, semantic checks at compile time ... and a lot more ...

HOW TO INSTALL

Just get the source code

HOW TO RUN A SIMPLE REPL

You will need a web server because for security reasons a browser is not allowed to use ajax requests to get local files if the page is opened from the local file system.

If you have a web browser then just navigate to jslisp.html.

It's also possible to create a single stand-alone REPL page that contains most important libraries. To do this you need to install node.js and then type at the command prompt in the source directory:

node jslisp.js standalone.lisp

This will create a standalone.html REPL that can be used even without a web server. This repl however is not able to load external lisp files so it's only good for experimenting a bit.

HOW TO RUN THE JSLISP IDE

JsLisp IDE is composed of two parts: an IDE server and an IDE client. The first runs under node.js and provides the client the ability to navigate and read/write from the filesystem (something that is forbidden for a web application).

To compile both parts you need node.js installed and to type the following commands from the source directory:

node jslisp.js deploy-html.lisp ide.lisp > ide.html
node jslisp.js deploy.lisp ideserver.lisp > ideserver.js

Then you can start the ideserver with

node ideserver.js

and you can use the IDE by pointing a browser to

http://127.0.0.1:1337/ide.html

You can customize the listening address (default 127.0.0.1) and port (default 1337) by compiling the server with

node jslisp.js deploy.lisp \
               '(defvar address "0.0.0.0")' \
               '(defvar port "8000")' \
               ideserver.lisp > ideserver.js

To access the filesystem the IDE server has an embedded toy security level based on user/password. If no "ide-users" file is present then the only user defined is "admin" with password "adminpw". Using the IDE you can add more users and/or change the password.

If you really care about security however you should use SSH tunnelling instead of allowing direct connections from other machines; for example after opening an SSH tunnel with

 ssh -L1337:127.0.0.1:1337 [email protected]

I can point a browser on http://127.0.0.1:1337/ide.html and use securely the IDE server on my machine across the internet.

IDE key bindings

Currently the key bindings cannot be customized and they are

ctrl-x .............. clipboard cut () ctrl-c .............. clipboard copy () ctrl-v .............. clipboard paste (*) ctrl-z .............. undo ctrl-y .............. redo ctrl-enter .......... send current sexpr to inferior lisp alt-enter ........... send all current source to inferior lisp and zoom it ctrl-k .............. go to inferior lisp and zoom it or go back to source esc ................. hide/show inferior lisp and documentation panels ctrl-left/right ..... switch to previous/next tab ctrl-q .............. close current tab () ctrl-t .............. open a terminal window (linux only) () ctrl-d .............. when in a terminal ends the session ctrl-w .............. save current file (**) alt-r ............... reset inferior lisp alt-z ............... clean inferior lisp window ctrl-r .............. search/replace dialog alt-i ............... ask and evaluate expression in inferior lisp alt-/ ............... autocomplete current word (repeated cycles options)

(*) For security reasons these are the only keys that allow a browser to do cut/copy/paste using the system clipboad.

(**) These keys are sometimes reserved by browsers and cannot be intercepted by Javascript. To avoid problems try using a web-app mode if available: google chrome for example has a -app option and calling "google-chrome -app=http://127.0.0.1:1337/ide.html" solves some issues and also provides a clean tool-bars free experience.