Draft for a perfect Compile-to-JavaScript language

compile-to-javascript.md

Ideas for a Compile-to-JavaScript language

• val for constant values (maybe const?)

• Function definition with fn keyword instead of function (maybe def?)

• Anonymous function definition with => notation

  E.g.: (a, b) => { return a * b; }

• Error on using undefined variables

• Error on defining variables without modifier

• == will always become ===

• if (a == undefined) // ... will translate to if (typeof a === 'undefined') // ...

• Number literals may also contain _ characters to separate blocks for better readability.

  E.g.: val a = 0x1000_0011

• Mandatory semicolons after every expression

But in general: keep it simple! JavaScript doesn't have to change that much to become much simpler.

example.js

// Some example JavaScript code
var a = 5;
var b = a * 10;

function Person(name, dateOfBirth) {
  this.name = name;
  this.dateOfBirth = dateOfBirth;
}

Person.prototype.toString = function() {
  return this.name + ", " + this.dateOfBirth;
};

example.src

// And the corresponding code in this new language
val a = 5;
val b = a * 10;

fn Person(name, dateOfBirth) {
  this.name = name;
  this.dateOfBirth = dateOfBirth;
}

Person.prototype.toString = () => {
  return this.name + ", " + this.dateOfBirth;
}