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I'm not really sure I understand what Crayon fixes for Javascript. Based on my understanding from the intermediate tutorial it seems to be mostly identical to J

I'm not really sure I understand what Crayon fixes for Javascript. Based on my understanding from the intermediate tutorial it seems to be mostly identical to Javascript, with a game library built in. Can somebody help me understand what makes this language stand out?

blakeohare 8y ago
Hello, I'm actually the creator of Crayon and was surprised to find this showed up here. Yes, the syntax very closely resembles JavaScript but there's more traits from static languages such as Java and less malleability than JS. For example libraries and dependencies are resolved at compile time and you can make it print out a tree of dependencies at compile time for use in environments that need to be properly sandboxed. Also, fields must be explicitly declared. This allows a lot more things like simple typos to be caught at compile time. The other thing is that it's export-ready for the platforms it supports. For example, when exporting to iOS, it generates a full XCode project. While this is similar to frameworks or languages like Cordova or Haxe, the thing that is unique to Crayon is the localizability of the language and libraries into non-English languages. This is still in the prototype phase, but currently works for Japanese and Spanish: https://crayonlang.org/gengo https://crayonlang.org/gengo
- mintplant 8y ago
  And it looks like Crayon has full-fledged classes instead of mutable prototypes on objects, awesome. JS engines jump through some really tricky hoops to make things performant in the face of that architectural mistake. Any plans for something like coroutines/generators?
  - blakeohare 8y ago
    Unfortunately, not currently. I'd say of the missing "common" features that people expect out of languages, lambdas are next on my implementation list. But for the most part, my near-term goals are focused more on platform support (both the compiler and for exporting) and localization.
- barskern 8y ago
  Thank you for the explanatory answer. Localization seems like a two-edged sword. Wouldn't it cause a spilt in the community when it comes to tutorials and documentation? Especially if the community is small. In Excel I repeatedly faced the problem that the formula "programming" language was my own language and not English, which meant that all English Excel formulas I found had to be translated. In my opinion the benefit of writing my native language does not outweigh the problems of constantly translating formulas. What are your thoughts on this problem? Have you thought of any ways to prevent such problems?
  - nonconvergent 8y ago
    That's what contributors are for. OSS has always been dependent on localization support from contributors, especially for documentation.
    - barskern 8y ago
      I understand what you mean, but I don't think you understand my point. I am not thinking about the official documentation of the language. Normally translating the explanations in the official documentation only requires contributers. However when someone makes a tutorial series or similar, that series will normally only be limited to one language because they will write the actual code itself in their language. I think this would split an already small community.
- SenHeng 8y ago
  Hey, I saw you present this on Saturday and really loved the idea of 'I write programs in Crayon'. I couldn't find anything related posted on HN so I decided to make a submission. Hope it didn't cause too much troubles.
- MR4D 8y ago
  I just did a quick read through your site. I only have two comments: 1 - great work! 2 - connect it to LLVM on the back end. That will cause your user base to absolutely explode.

blakeohare 8y ago

Hello, I'm actually the creator of Crayon and was surprised to find this showed up here. Yes, the syntax very closely resembles JavaScript but there's more traits from static languages such as Java and less malleability than JS. For example libraries and dependencies are resolved at compile time and you can make it print out a tree of dependencies at compile time for use in environments that need to be properly sandboxed. Also, fields must be explicitly declared. This allows a lot more things like simple typos to be caught at compile time. The other thing is that it's export-ready for the platforms it supports. For example, when exporting to iOS, it generates a full XCode project. While this is similar to frameworks or languages like Cordova or Haxe, the thing that is unique to Crayon is the localizability of the language and libraries into non-English languages. This is still in the prototype phase, but currently works for Japanese and Spanish: https://crayonlang.org/gengo https://crayonlang.org/gengo

mintplant 8y ago
And it looks like Crayon has full-fledged classes instead of mutable prototypes on objects, awesome. JS engines jump through some really tricky hoops to make things performant in the face of that architectural mistake. Any plans for something like coroutines/generators?
- blakeohare 8y ago
  Unfortunately, not currently. I'd say of the missing "common" features that people expect out of languages, lambdas are next on my implementation list. But for the most part, my near-term goals are focused more on platform support (both the compiler and for exporting) and localization.
barskern 8y ago
Thank you for the explanatory answer. Localization seems like a two-edged sword. Wouldn't it cause a spilt in the community when it comes to tutorials and documentation? Especially if the community is small. In Excel I repeatedly faced the problem that the formula "programming" language was my own language and not English, which meant that all English Excel formulas I found had to be translated. In my opinion the benefit of writing my native language does not outweigh the problems of constantly translating formulas. What are your thoughts on this problem? Have you thought of any ways to prevent such problems?
- nonconvergent 8y ago
  That's what contributors are for. OSS has always been dependent on localization support from contributors, especially for documentation.
  - barskern 8y ago
    I understand what you mean, but I don't think you understand my point. I am not thinking about the official documentation of the language. Normally translating the explanations in the official documentation only requires contributers. However when someone makes a tutorial series or similar, that series will normally only be limited to one language because they will write the actual code itself in their language. I think this would split an already small community.
SenHeng 8y ago
Hey, I saw you present this on Saturday and really loved the idea of 'I write programs in Crayon'. I couldn't find anything related posted on HN so I decided to make a submission. Hope it didn't cause too much troubles.
MR4D 8y ago
I just did a quick read through your site. I only have two comments: 1 - great work! 2 - connect it to LLVM on the back end. That will cause your user base to absolutely explode.