yoob.js

Version 0.1. Everything subject to change.

yoob.js is the HTML5 counterpart to yoob.

Like yoob, yoob.js:

• provides a set of components for implementing visual interpreters for esoteric programming languages (esolangs).
• is written amateurishly.
• has an API that is not particularly good, finalized, or stable.
• will eventually ship with some public-domain implementations of some esolangs (but the approach is different from yoob's; see below.)

Unlike yoob, yoob.js:

• is written in Javascript which assumes HTML5 capabilities in the browser (mainly <canvas> elements.)
• does not provide a single canonical overarching framework which "knows" how to interpret and display and run an esolang implementation. Instead, more fitting with the dynamic approach of the Javascript language, yoob.js provides the constituent parts, and it's up to the developer to string them together into an esolang interpreter (or whatever else) and to lay it out on a web page.
• is not limited to providing support for esolang interpreters; it might be better described as a set of components for implementing esolangs "and other bizarre things".
• does not support unbounded integer values (yet; see "Planned", below).
• provides components which are meant to be used as starting points for further modification. (It's all public domain, so build on it!) For example, yoob.sexpParser is meant to be used as an example or basis for a specific grammar of your choice.

yoob.js will eventually:

• extend the idea of "a component to help implement an esolang" to encompass esolang implementations themselves. So, for example, yoob.js might include an implementation of brainfuck, but this would not be provided solely as an "end implementation" but also as a component for implementing other brainfuck-derived esolangs, and other mashups.

  This emphasizes a thing with yoob, which is that while the yoob distribution may contain implementations of various languages, it does not contain the reference implementation of any language; but the reference implementations of some languages may be written in yoob. yoob allows for this approach, but yoob.js hopes to accomodate it better than just allowing for it.

Other things you should know about yoob.js are that it:

• requires features from HTML5 and related "modern" web standards. It does not try to do any feature detection or polyfilling. If it doesn't work in your browser, it doesn't work in your browser. Try another browser.
• does not rely on jQuery (yet) (possibly to its detriment.)
• does not come minified or agglomerated or anything. I mean, this isn't production web development, we're not trying to optimize page load time here, we just want to run us some esolangs, right? You're free to do this yourself. May we suggest cat yoob/*.js > yoob.js? (Note: there may one day be a small script to do this sort of thing for you, more intelligently, respecting dependencies and whatnot. Especially if you write it and send a pull request.)

API

Each yoob.js class is defined in its own .js file, and each .js file inserts the class it defines into the yoob namespace (which it will create as a new, empty, global namespace if it has not already been defined.)

The classes are currently:

• yoob.Playfield, in yoob/playfield.js

  A two-dimensional Cartesian grid of values which dynamically expands as needed. It can be associated with a <canvas> element, on which it will be depicted, which will also dynamically expand as needed. Objects of this class should be suitable for representing programs in two-dimensional esolangs such as Befunge, as well as cellular automata.

• yoob.Cursor, in yoob/cursor.js

  A pointer (position vector) into two-dimensional Cartesian space (typically a yoob.Playfield) which also has a delta (direction vector) which need not necessarily be used.

• yoob.TextConsole, in yoob/text-console.js

  A crude simulation of a text-based addressable console on a <canvas> element. Not recommended for serious use; mainly intended to provide a sort of retro feel to input and ouput.

• yoob.TextTerminal, in yoob/text-terminal.js

  A subclass of yoob.TextConsole which understands some terminal control codes such as newline and backspace.

• yoob.LineInputBuffer, in yoob/line-input-buffer.js

  A crude simulation of a buffer into which the user can type a line of text. Typically it is associated with a yoob.TextConsole object, on which the text is displayed as the user types it.

• yoob.Tape, in yoob/tape.js

  A (theoretically) unbounded tape, like you'd find on a Turing machine, optionally associated with a <canvas> on which it is depicted.

• yoob.TapeHead, in yoob/tape-head.js

  An object representing a position on a Tape.

• yoob.Stack, in yoob/stack.js

  An object implementing a push-down, first-in-first-out stack of values, optionally associated with a <canvas> on which it is depicted.

• yoob.AST

  An AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) is a type identifier (String), an optional value (of any type), and an array of zero or more children ASTs.

• yoob.Scanner, in yoob/scanner.js

  A simple, inefficient lexical analyzer, parameterized with a table of regexps. Can also serve as a starting point for writing your own, less simple, inefficient lexical analyzer.

• yoob.SexpParser, in yoob/sexp-parser.js

  A simple recursive-descent parser which parses S-expressions. Uses yoob.Scanner to analyze the input string and yoob.AST to create the parsed version. Can also serve as a starting point for writing your own recursive-descent parser for some other, more complex language.

Planned

• yoob.List

  A List is either an atom (String) or a pair of a List and a List.

• yoob.Term

  A Term is either an atom (String) or a variable (String in a special namespace), plus an array of zero or more children Terms. Should include facilities for matching and unification.

• yoob.Environment

  A scoped associative structure, suitable for implementing a symbol table or an evaluation context.

• yoob.Turtle

  For Turtle Graphics.

• yoob.Error

  For error handling. Scanning and Parsing should accumulate a list of these objects before choking and dying. They should be displayable nicely somehow.

• unbounded integer support

  Although yoob.js will likely not ship with an unbounded integer implementation (unless someone wants to contribute one), certain classes (Tape, Stack, Playfield) should probably, one day, have limited support for working with objects which conform to a subset of the API exposed by Matthew Crumley's Javascript BigInteger class, which is unastonishing.