Syndicated Actors for Conversational Concurrency

In-browser compiler for JavaScript+Syndicate to plain JavaScript

1 December 2023
Tony Garnock-Jones
#dsl #syndicate #javascript #web
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To make experimenting with Syndicate/JS a bit easier, I’ve just dusted off an old idea: getting the compiler from JavaScript with Syndicate DSL extensions down to plain JavaScript to run in the browser.

It’s (relatively) simple. Load a few modules, perhaps via a CDN:

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<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@preserves/core/dist/preserves.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@syndicate-lang/core/dist/syndicate.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@syndicate-lang/compiler/dist/syndicate-compiler.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@syndicate-lang/html/dist/syndicate-html.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@syndicate-lang/compiler/dist/syndicate-browser-compiler.js"></script>

Then, add <script type="syndicate"> tags with Syndicate/JS code in them:

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<script type="syndicate">
  spawn {
    assert "Hello, world!";
  }
</script>

The syndicate-browser-compiler.js script automatically translates such scripts into plain JavaScript:

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<script>
  const __SYNDICATE__ = Syndicate;
  __SYNDICATE__.Turn.active._spawn(() => {
    __SYNDICATE__.Turn.active.assertDataflow(() => ({ target: currentSyndicateTarget, assertion: "Hello, world!" }));
  });
</script>

Here’s a small (live!) example, hosted at codepen:

See the Pen Standalone Syndicate/JS page, December 2023 by Tony Garnock-Jones (@leastfixedpoint) on CodePen.

It’s still too hard to get started with Syndicate, but this is at least a step in the right direction.

(Just in case the codepen goes away, here is the same example as a standalone webpage.)