Cleanlang

A clean compile to JavaScript language

Install

$ npm install cleanlang -g

Usage

$ clean hello.cl

Will compile and run hello.cl

$ clean --help

For more options

Hello World

include node-core
main = putLine 'Hello World!'

Define function main. It is called at the start of your program. putLine is an asynchronous function.

Factorial function

include node-core
factorial 1 = 1
factorial n = n * factorial (n - 1)

main = putLine (factorial 5)

You can use pattern matching (factorial 1 = 1) in function definitions in clean.

Express example

include node-core
express = require 'express'
app = express ()

do
  req res <- IO (app.get '/')
  res.send 'Hello World'

app.listen 3000

Use IO to create your own Evented IO function. The argument to IO is the IO call you want to make minus the callback. (Notice that we don't provide a callback to app.get).

There is no main in our program above. main is not mandatory. Since most of the IO you do is evented, the events will get activated in the do

Combining IO blocks example

Here is a command line program that gets a user input number. The factorial of the number is calculated, and ascii art from an API, for the factorial is printed.

include node-core
request = require 'request'

fact 1 = 1
fact n = n * fact (n - 1)

computeFact = do
  num <- getLine 'enter value for factorial: '
  let val = fact (parseInt num)
  putLine val
  return (String val)

do
  data <- computeFact
  let link = 'http://artii.herokuapp.com/make?text=' ++ data
  err res body <- IO (request link)
  maybeErr err (putLine err)
  putLine body

We define computeFact to be an IO function that takes the user input and returns the computed factorial as a string. Note the return statement. This is not the regular return statement in JavaScript or similar languages. This return lifts the string into an IO type. All do blocks evaluate to Evented IO Types internally. We need the return for this do block because computeFact will be used in the next do block.

In the next do block we bind computeFact to a variable called data. You can use let statements in a do block to create scoped variables. ++ is used for string concatenation. Then we create an evented IO that uses request. The created IO function is bound to err, res and body. maybeErr will terminate the do if err is an instance of JavaScript Error, and calls putLine err.

Docs

For the complete syntax, head over to the wiki