HTML Is A Programming Language

The following material is taken from a research project by an expert to end the eternal discusion.

Language Overview

To avoid introducing a parser for arithmetic/comparison/logic expressions I did what any sensible person would do, create a stack language hybrid.

Character

It is a single character. (a-z,@,#,$,%,^,&,*,...)

Numbers

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0

Booleans

true, false

Variables

$foo, $bar

Strings

Anything that is not character value is considered a string, no quotes needed

Language Constructs

v

Put the value in the document

Example: put the value of variable $i in the document

<v $i></v>

let

Binds variables to values (see literals above), for example:

<let s=hello n=4 b=true v=$s>
 <p>String: <v $s></v></p>
 <p>Number: <v $n></v></p>
 <p>Boolean: <v $b></v></p>
 <p>Variable: <v $v></v></p>
</let>

Will generate:

String: hello

Number: 4

Boolean: true

Variable: hello

cond

Evaluate conditions in order, return the body of the first that matches or else if present and no other if matches

<cond>
  <if $isMod3AndMod4><p>FizzBuzz</p></if>

  <if $isMod3><p>Fizz</p></if>

  <if $isMod4><p>Buzz</p></if>

  <else><p><v $i></v></p></else>
</cond>

Note: any other HTML tags or expressions are evaluated if present inside cond until the first if/else match, for example:

<cond>
  <do calc-is-mod $i 3></do>
  <do set isMod3></do>

  <do calc-is-mod $i 4></do>
  <do set isMod4></do>

  <do push $isMod3></do>
  <do push $isMod4></do>
  <do and></do>
  <do set isMod3AndMod4></do>

  <if $isMod3AndMod4><p>FizzBuzz</p></if>

  <if $isMod3><p>Fizz</p></if>

  <if $isMod4><p>Buzz</p></if>

  <else><p><v $i></v></p></else>
</cond>

if

Embed the tag's body if the condition evaluates to true.

Note: can be used inside cond where if true stops evaluating conditions (like if/else if) or outside where it works like a single if without else if/else branches.

else

Embed the tag's body if the tag is reached inside a cond tag.

Note: if used outside a cond it will always embed its body.

for

Binds each item in an iterator to a variable and embeds the body of the for tag as many times as items in the iterator with the item bound to the provided variable.

<do range $from $to></do>
<do set nums></do>
<for i in $nums>
 <v $i></v>
</for>

defn

Define a function that can later be called with the do tag.

<defn calc-is-mod i n>
 <do push $i></do>
 <do push $n></do>
 <do rem></do>
 <do push 0></do>
 <do eq></do>
</defn>

do

Call a function with a name and 0 or more parameters

Push value in variable $i to the stack: <do push $i></do> Push number 3 to the stack: <do push 3></do> Call reminder (takes 2 values from the stack and pushes the result): <do rem></do>

Call user defined function calc-is-mod passing variable $i and number 3 as parameter: <do calc-is-mod $i 3></do>

nb

A comment whose body is logged to the console

<nb>i = <v $i></v> i % 3 == 0? <v $isMod3></v></nb> will print something like i = 1 i % 3 == 0? false to the console

Examples

Simple Fizzbuzz

<do range 1 15></do>
<do set nums></do>
<for i in $nums>
 <do push $i></do>
 <do push 3></do>
 <do rem></do>
 <do push 0></do>
 <do eq></do>
 <do set isMod3></do>
 <nb>i = <v $i></v> i % 3 == 0? <v $isMod3></v></nb>

 <do push $i></do>
 <do push 4></do>
 <do rem></do>
 <do push 0></do>
 <do eq></do>
 <do set isMod4></do>
 <nb>i = <v $i></v> i % 4 == 0? <v $isMod4></v></nb>

 <do push $isMod3></do>
 <do push $isMod4></do>
 <do and></do>
 <do set isMod3AndMod4></do>
 <nb>i = <v $i></v> i % 3 == 0 and i % 4 == 0? <v $isMod3AndMod4></v></nb>

 <cond>
     <if $isMod3AndMod4><p>FizzBuzz</p></if>

     <if $isMod3><p>Fizz</p></if>

     <if $isMod4><p>Buzz</p></if>

     <else><p><v $i></v></p></else>
 </cond>
</for>

Fizzbuzz with Functions

<defn calc-is-mod i n>
  <do push $i></do>
  <do push $n></do>
  <do rem></do>
  <do push 0></do>
  <do eq></do>
</defn>

<defn fizzbuzz from to>
  <do range $from $to></do>
  <do set nums></do>
  <for i in $nums>
    <do calc-is-mod $i 3></do>
    <do set isMod3></do>
    <nb>i = <v $i></v> i % 3 == 0? <v $isMod3></v></nb>

    <do calc-is-mod $i 4></do>
    <do set isMod4></do>
    <nb>i = <v $i></v> i % 4 == 0? <v $isMod4></v></nb>

    <do push $isMod3></do>
    <do push $isMod4></do>
    <do and></do>
    <do set isMod3AndMod4></do>
    <nb>i = <v $i></v> i % 3 == 0 and i % 4 == 0? <v $isMod3AndMod4></v></nb>

    <cond>
      <if $isMod3AndMod4><p>FizzBuzz</p></if>

      <if $isMod3><p>Fizz</p></if>

      <if $isMod4><p>Buzz</p></if>

      <else><p><v $i></v></p></else>
    </cond>
  </for>
</defn>

<do fizzbuzz 1 21></do>
<do pop></do>

Counter

A counter with two buttons, one to increment and one to decrement, the counter markup is:

<button id=dec>-</button>
<input type=number readonly id=counter value=0>
<button id=inc>+</button>

<defn on-dec-click e>
 <do on-btn-click e dec></do>
</defn>

<defn on-inc-click e>
 <do on-btn-click e inc></do>
</defn>

<defn on-btn-click e op>
  <do query-selector-id counter></do>
  <do set input></do>

  <do get-attribute $input value></do>
  <do set cur-count-raw></do>

  <do parse-int $cur-count-raw></do>
  <!-- higher order functions :P -->
  <do $op></do>
  <do set new-count></do>

  <do set-attribute $input value $new-count></do>
</defn>

<do add-event-listener-id dec click on-dec-click></do>
<do add-event-listener-id inc click on-inc-click></do>