Haxe for Javascripters
Have you tried Haxe yet?
Brendan Graetz
Brendan Graetz
Haxe
Overview
- ECMAScript
- Community
- Haxe to JS
- Pros/ Cons
- Demo
History
The ECMAScripts
- ECMAScript 3
- 1st widely implemented Javascript
- ECMAScript 4
- Failed as a Javascript spec
- Implemented in ActionScript 3
- ECMAScript 5
- 2nd widely implemented Javascript
- ECMAScript 6
- Hot off the presses
- Now called ES2015
So ... Haxe?
inspired by AS3
so, quite ECMAScript-ish
also has elements of OCaml & Java
take Javascript, and add types
Typescript, anyone?
Comparing TypeScript and Haxe - which is the better compile to Javascript language?
TypeScript vs Haxe (Andy Li)
Looking at the Haxe to Javascript compiler in detail
Vanilla Haxe JS (Phillipe Elsass)
Community
Original mission
- Alternative OSS compiler to Flash
- Compiler written using OCaml
- Beat Adobe's own Flash compiler
Focus
- Due to roots, very centred around Game Dev
- LudumDare: Dominated by HaxeFlixel
- This is beginning to change now
Mentioned on haxe.io ... next minute:
Haxe Foundation
- Core contributors to the compiler and the language spec
- See @glazou's
critique of the Haxe foundation
- Controversy alert: Run like 1-man show
- Could learn from the iojs/node foundation
Silex Labs
- Non profit organisation that promotes OSS
- Hosts many meetups & workshops
- Organises WWX
Needs more of this sort of thing
Where are Haxers now?
(trailing: rest of Europe + US)
Pourtant, toute la documentation est en Anglais
Package Manager
npm is to NodeJs ...
... as haxelib is to Haxe ...
... but haxelib is a bit more C-like:
LD_LIBRARY_PATH
(all libs installed globally by default)
... and now, the killer feature!
Cross-compile
Most languages: Language + Standard Lib
Haxe: Those, plus cross platform APIs
Transpiles to natively compile-able code
VMs or run times are optional
Awesome - right now:
- HTML+JS
- C++ --> iOS
- C++ --> Android NDK
- Java ( --> Android SDK )
- Flash
Awesome - eventually:
- PlayStation
- Xbox
Auto-magic tooling
haxelib install openfl
haxelib run openfl setup
# Unleash the dragons!
openfl setup android
# {android,ios,html5,flash,linux,mac,windows,blackberry,tizen}(Same feeling as npm i -g react-native-cli for the first time)
Andy Li's talk at a recent London Meetup:
There are over 300 transpile to Javascript languages/ platforms ... It is a balancing act, where you maximise the pros and minimise the cons ... Haxe has a very good value proposition from this point of view
(I'm paraphrasing)
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Static type checking + type inference | Lose the flexibility of object literals |
| Idiomatic JS | == instead of === |
| non-JS targets as well | Transpile adds extra build step |
| Functional programming | Classes everywhere |
| Compile-time optimisation | |
| Super fast compiler | |
| Mature - 2005 | |
| Macros |
| JS only | JS + Android + iOS |
|---|---|
| Typescript | Haxe |
| Coffeescript | PhoneGap |
| many more... | React Native |
| NativeScript | |
| Emscripten | |
| GWT & LLVM | |
| ... many more |
Cross-compilation is the reason to try Haxe
Pros & cons
Khan academy recently did a comparison of
code sharing strategies, because:
*"Reimplementing the same thing multiple times is error-prone, time-consuming, and demoralizing. But the cure might be worse than the disease."*
... so I felt compelled to add a column for Haxe:
Who to watch
People
- Haxe <--> Javascript expert
- Philippe Elsass - @elsassph
- Andy Li - @andy_li
- Matthijs Kamstra - @MatthijsKamstra
- Super interesting articles
- Lars Doucet - @larsiusprime
- Jeff Ward - @Jeff__Ward
Projects
- Haxe React
- Haxe bindings for ReactJs
- THX libs
- The
underscore/lodashfor Haxe
- The
Articles
- Working with JS libs
- How to write Haxe bindings for your JS libs
- Haxe & Object Literal Notation
- The difference between Haxe objects and Javascript objects
haxejsbook &haxenodebook- Guides to the Haxe Javascript target & using NodeJs with Haxe
haxe.io- Haxe Roundup (Community news)
- Gettings started with the JS target
- Official Haxe documentation
Summary
- Javascript-ish syntax
- Game Dev awesomesauce community
- Best-in-class cross compilation
Try Haxe
... like, in your browser
... like, right now
Credits
- Chris Decoster for reviews and feedback on this presentation
- Andy Li for inspiring this talk with his
DEMO
Thank you
Brendan Graetz