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I'm actually pretty interested in this, about to start a new project using webGL. Two questions: How predictable is the output JavaScript. This is important of

by Arelius 15y ago

I'm actually pretty interested in this, about to start a new project using webGL. Two questions: How predictable is the output JavaScript. This is important of optimization, if I find that something is transforming improperly, I need to be able to change that. How is DOM and native JS Interop? I need to be able to trivially call WebGL and do DOM manipulations, and perhaps anything else that can come up. Examples will be appreciated.

jlongster 15y ago
Thanks! * The output is pretty robust. Everything compiles down to just a few basic forms: an atom, a function, lambda, and "if". I'm considering adding a form that lets you output raw JS if you need to optimize something, but I have yet to see the need for that. * Outlet doesn't do anything crazy like CPS. When you call a function "foo" with "(foo 1 2 3)" it generators a simple function call "foo(1, 2, 3)". So you can call native javascript functions normally. You can use arrays and objects inline, like so: (define a [1 2 3 4]) (define b {:key "value" :another-key "value2"}) Those get generated to normal javascript arrays and objects, so you can pass them as parameters to a native js function if needed. You can even reference objects with "." like: (define foo {:one 1 :two 2}) (print foo.one) That works as expected. The only difference is vector reference, instead of "foo[1]" you would do "(vector-ref foo 1)". Of course, this is all subject to change, but the goal of Outlet is to not do something crazy and for things to work as expected.
- Arelius 15y ago
  Fantastic, thanks! I assume you're familiar with parenscript. What are your thoughts on that? I additionally love the ability to generate lua, I could see that being very useful.
  - jlongster 15y ago
    Parenscript looks neat! I'm blatantly starting a new project because I feel like I can only materialize my vision if its built from the ground up. Think of it more as a research project at this point (though it works well). It would take too long to change existing projects (but who knows, I might be doing that in the future). My main complaint about Parenscript is it's too Javascript inspired. I don't want the "return" statement. Parenscript also seems to have no interest in compiling out to other languages, like Lua.

by Arelius 15y ago

jlongster 15y ago

Thanks! * The output is pretty robust. Everything compiles down to just a few basic forms: an atom, a function, lambda, and "if". I'm considering adding a form that lets you output raw JS if you need to optimize something, but I have yet to see the need for that. * Outlet doesn't do anything crazy like CPS. When you call a function "foo" with "(foo 1 2 3)" it generators a simple function call "foo(1, 2, 3)". So you can call native javascript functions normally. You can use arrays and objects inline, like so: (define a [1 2 3 4]) (define b {:key "value" :another-key "value2"}) Those get generated to normal javascript arrays and objects, so you can pass them as parameters to a native js function if needed. You can even reference objects with "." like: (define foo {:one 1 :two 2}) (print foo.one) That works as expected. The only difference is vector reference, instead of "foo[1]" you would do "(vector-ref foo 1)". Of course, this is all subject to change, but the goal of Outlet is to not do something crazy and for things to work as expected.

Arelius 15y ago
Fantastic, thanks! I assume you're familiar with parenscript. What are your thoughts on that? I additionally love the ability to generate lua, I could see that being very useful.
- jlongster 15y ago
  Parenscript looks neat! I'm blatantly starting a new project because I feel like I can only materialize my vision if its built from the ground up. Think of it more as a research project at this point (though it works well). It would take too long to change existing projects (but who knows, I might be doing that in the future). My main complaint about Parenscript is it's too Javascript inspired. I don't want the "return" statement. Parenscript also seems to have no interest in compiling out to other languages, like Lua.