Runiq (WIP)

Runiq is a little Lisp-inspired scripting language that runs atop JavaScript.

Runiq is three things: (1) A syntax that makes it easy to express async algorithms as functional data structures, (2) a JavaScript-hosted parser and interpreter that can run Runiq code on most platforms, and (3) an API for DSL-building that you can use to create your own mini-languages.

Runiq is free software, released under an ISC License.

Try Runiq »

Features

• Lisp-esque syntax
• Runnable in Node or browser
• Functional paradigm
• Human-writable JSON AST
• Async processing
• Stepwise computation (pause & resume)
• Code as data, data as code
• Serializable programs & state
• DSL builder for developers
• Localizable
• Macros (coming soon)

Example

Here's a sample Runiq program:

; Compute eighth Fibonacci number ;
(ycomb (lambda fn n (quote
  (if (<= n 2)
    (quote (1))
   else
    (quote (+ (ycomb fn (- n 1))
              (ycomb fn (- n 2)))))
)) 8)

And here's the AST of that same program:

["ycomb", ["lambda", "fn", "n", ["quote",
  ["if", ["<=", "n", 2],
    ["quote", [1]],
   "else",
    ["quote", ["+",
       ["ycomb", "fn", ["-", "n", 1]],
       ["ycomb", "fn", ["-", "n", 2]]]]]
]], 8]

For more, see the Runiq wiki »

Installation

Runiq may be installed via NPM:

$ npm install runiq

For more, see the Runiq wiki »

Usage

Programmatic

Here's the simplest example:

var Runiq = require('runiq');
Runiq.run("(+ 5 3)", {
  success: function(result) {
    // result will be 8
  }
});

Lower-level hooks are available.

For more, see the Runiq wiki ».

Command Line

To use the Runiq CLI, install Runiq globally...

$ npm i -g runiq

Then try this:

$ echo '(print "Hello World")' > hello.rune
$ runiq hello.rune

Or open a (feature-lacking) "REPL":

$ runiq
> (+ 1 2)

For more, see the Runiq wiki ».

API Documentation

Motivation

Runiq begain as an experiment in safely running untrusted code. I wanted to create a mini-language that could act as a sandbox, whose level of "power" I could easily customize for different users and use cases. I wanted a language where...

• Sandbox escape would be impossible (by default)
• Coders could gain access to language features via trust systems
• No requirement of booting up a VM
• Programs could run "anywhere"
• I could pause long-running (or never-ending) programs...
• ...and resume them without corrupting their state

Along the way I added more requirements (why not?), such as the ability for engineers to plug their own keywords into the language, and a Lisp-inspired syntax that could be approachable for beginners yet also appealing to hackers. The result is what you have here.

For more, see the Runiq wiki »

See Also

• LispyScript
• LJSON
• Wildflower
• Paredit.js
• Transit

Help & Troubleshooting

Join the Runiq Slack channel.

Reporting Bugs

File bugs on GitHub Issues.

Development

To get your local setup going:

• Clone the repo
• npm install
• npm run test

Contributing

Please submit pull requests!

Author

Matthew Trost

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2015-2016 Matthew Trost

License

ISC License. See LICENSE.txt.