tommy tummy
Jul 23, 2017 · 2 min read

hi,

backend-guy from germany checking in… -just to share an experience i recently made ;)

At our company, the „fronties“ ( –> frontend-devs) have some Real trouble with the performance and the functionality of the shell ( on all platforms, but especially on mobile).

They are switching frameworks/libraries and even fiddling with different languages-systems for months now…

( angular, react, clojurescript, elm…. -and only god might know what else they have tried/mixed in/smashed together…? )

So many hours of talking (about what toolchain to use), of debating (about which libraries to „-npm-install-“), of bragging (how awesome framework „X“ might be), of deciding (which cool-kid technology to use) our fronties put in this project is quite impressive.

But the result is not.

So I decided as i was bored at work to give myself a try and just make my own version of this obviously very complicated shell.

On thursday:

I plotted out a rough sketch of what I think a reasonable architecture for an animated, responsive, reactive, super-duper GUI might look like.

On Friday:

I hacked together the core logic and models of that architecture and packed them neatly into small independent modules. K.I.S.S. , babe ;)

Also took a look at React.

I didnt really like it, but i wanted something like some sort of „rendering-stuff-efficient-to-the-DOM“-engine.

Something that i can throw data-structures at (es6 template-literals ftw) and it just spits out a „just-changed-what-needs-to-be-changed“-DOM.

– imagine some Apes in the zoo throwing their own shit at each other ;) –

I Tried to enslave React that way… but… MEH… not really satisfying.

… and there are some problems i ran into with react. It sometimes just does not work like a sane mind would expect it to work…

Searched a bit for alternatives…

… found HYPER HYPER text markup language. – Well, sounds promising, I thought.

-> I read your documentation

-> I read your code

THATS AN INTERESTING APPROACH!

>> DOWNLOAD!!!

On saturday:

I just drank too much, dont blame me. Ladies, tell the children the truth.

Today:

Hangover-mode. An unshaved, stinking Ape sits in front of a notebook throwing shit at some hyper-hyper-thing… And it WORKS!! And it works WELL!! So well that i was able to „rebuild“ approximately 60% of a shell our fronties are dabbeling for months with.

CONCLUSION:

Your „JIT-template-literal-compiler“ is a goddamn beefy piece of Engine.

I really have to thank you for this project.

It is highly recommendable!

you made my sunday!

I hope you enjoy yours!

best regards from GE

ps.:

Some people might read this and ask themselves „why is that stupid guy talking so much about anything else but hyperHTML?“

Well, ladies and gentlemen,

the reason is that if something is uncomplicated and ‘just works’, people tend to NOT talk about it.

(Hmmm… what might be the reason why people talk A LOT about react… hmm…?)

:)

    tommy tummy

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