Fate

Fate is a programming language that targets the V8 JavaScript VM. It is a mostly functional language that provides first-class patterns, invocation guards, list comprehensions, flexible function application, and awesome concurrency.

For more information about Fate, you can visit the Fate Language Site.

For more information about the language itself, you can read the Fate Programming Guide.

For examples of real code, you can check out the scripts in the project's Test Directory.

How to Install and Use

Until the first stable release happens, you're really pressing your luck to use this thing in production. But if you're insane, you can install the language globally like so:

npm -g install fatejs

This will link the command line interpreter (fate) into your PATH, allowing you to start Fate scripts directly from the command-line:

fate my_script.fate

It will also link the command line compiler (fatec) into your PATH, allowing you to convert Fate scripts into node.js modules. Those modules can then be required like any other node module, but the fatejs module must be available to your project.

Because the Fate module registers an extension with node, you can also require() Fate scripts directly. Just be sure to require the fatejs module before attempting to do so.

The Fate Compilation API

You can also compile scripts manually by requiring the fatejs module, and calling its compile() function, like so:

// require the Fate module
const fate = require('fatejs');

// compile a script that returns a lambda
const script = fate.compile('x -> x * 100');

// execute the compiled script,
// will return the lambda instance
const resultingLambda = script();

// spit out the result of the lambda!
console.log(resultingLambda(4));

Or, if you're lazy, you can skip the compile and execute steps, and just call evaluate():

const fate = require('fatejs');
const resultingLambda = fate.evaluate('x → x • 100');
console.log(resultingLambda(4));

Current Status

There's quite a bit left to do in the areas of optimization and runtime library support. See the project's GitHub Issues page to get an idea.

License (MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2015, 2106 Thomas S. Bradford

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.