chain-example.js

chain
  (addCustomHeaders)
  (errorHandler)
  (deflate)
  (route
    ("/foo", chain(fooApp)()) // the () ends the chain
    (/^\/blog\/(.*)/, chain(funkyBlogApp)()) // the () ends the chain
    (/^\/static\//, chain
      (farFutureExpiresHeader)
      (route
        (/^js\/(.*)\.js$/, chain
          (javascriptHeaders)
          (jsmin)) // no (), so fall through
        (/^css\/(.*)\.css$/, chain
          (cssHeaders)
          (cssmin))))) // no (), so fall through
  (directoryIndex) // if it's a folder, this does 
  (fileServer)
  ()
  .listen(8000); // this starts the server.

DAG!

        /(B)---------------
--(A)--*        /(D)--|    \
        \(C)---*            --(G)--(H)
                \(E)--(F)--/
chain
  (A)
  (route
    ("/B", B) // single link, then fallthrough, don't need a chain
    ("/C", chain
      (C)
      (route
        ("/D", chain(D)()) // terminus
        ("/E", chain(E)(F)))))
  (G)
  (H)
  ().listen(8000);

gistfile2.txt

Please note these are a quick brain dump only...  (btw I don't see how this syntax works ;)  I'm interested to know)  Some of these things could be fixed, but I'm not sure about all of them.

*Love the idea of mounting a component as part of a chain, _and_ as a seperate service

*route construction complete immediately.  i.e. no option to build the routes and add to them gradually.  This will mean users cannot add routes to a component (bad), and that components must know all the routes when the chain is built.  No dynamic runtime construction is available.

* Having the router as something different to a link means that the router must be built into chain, and becomes unchangable.  By using the router as a link approach, a router is just another link, and multiple routers can be used / interchanged...  Also, syntax is fixed, and somewhat immutable after construction.

* No route parameters enabled. Route route parameters from both the url (path segments) and also from some kind of request object (user_agent, domains) are very useful in a router.

* the router becomes responsible for moving the reuqest along a chain.  I tend to think of a router as an entry exit hub, passing the request from incomming to outgoing and then standing back.

* router should be able to generate routes.  Nested routers should generate the full url's including interperating parameters