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Hey HN, author here. Kretes is a tool for building full-stack applications in TypeScript and PostgreSQL with a goal to provide an integrated, battery-included a
by zaiste 6y ago
Hey HN, author here. Kretes is a tool for building full-stack applications in TypeScript and PostgreSQL with a goal to provide an integrated, battery-included and open-source solution for web development. It combines a web framework - similar to Rails, Django or Laravel - with a UI being built on top of the VS Code editor. It comes with a (eventually large) standard library of built-in modules that are developed in a coherent way e.g. authentication, authorization, admin panel [1] etc.
This project explores the ideas introduced by the Self programming language and aims to bring them to the current age. The ultimate goal is to create a semi-visual tool for building web apps in a more intuitive way using just one programming language - TypeScript - on the client & on the server, and without the accidental complexity.
The project started as a way to arrange my knowledge around JavaScript. Inspired by the past, I decided to replicate to some extend what Sun Microsystems did in ’95 with the Self programming language (a project I find underrated and ahead of its time), but using modern, popular tools such as JavaScript/TypeScript, VS Code, WebAssembly, PostgreSQL, etc.
The project is in early alpha stage with the bus factor of (strong) 1. :)
Happy to answer any questions here or at oh@zaiste.net*
PS. I’m creating a todo app using Kretes on YouTube [2] to explain the bigger picture of building full-stack applications. IMHO it’s good to have a general understanding of how web applications work before* specializing in front-end or back-end - that’s the goal for this video series, and for Kretes.
[1] not yet public
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLAElFkRrWI&list=PLhXZp00uXBk5hnHEIAFl74mZyLrVKKJAD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLAElFkRrWI&list=PLhXZp00uXB...
- debaserab2 6y ago> I decided to replicate to some extend what Sun Microsystems did in ’95 with the Self programming language For those of us unaware of what the Self programming language is/was, what things did you find inspiring that you are using in this framework?
- zaiste 6y agoI'd like to tightly combine a semi-visual programming editor, the tooling and the runtime/infrastructure into one «thing» as shown in this video [1]. You write a bit of code, you drag and drop another bit, and almost instantly it becomes «online» - the compilation / the deployment process are somehow hidden and the configuration is minimal. It just works, so you can focus on solving the actual business needs of your application - but that's a long term vision... ;) I must mention DarkLang [2] that seems to have a similar goal, but a different approach: Kretes builds on top of VS Code, and uses one of the most popular programming languages while DarkLang builds not only their editor from scratch, but they also introduced a new programming language. I find their project ambitious and inspiring - a potential game changer imho [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox5P7QyL774 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox5P7QyL774 [2]: https://darklang.com/ https://darklang.com/