[FlexJS] Randori, tools, etc.

[OmPrakash Muppirala <bi...@gmail.com>]

Michael,

Thanks for the link.  I went through the whole documentation (still have
some questions, though).  It looks pretty solid.  Any reason there has not
been much activity on Randori for a while?  Are you planning some new
updates any time soon?

The cross-compiler is straight up FalconJX, right?  Or has there been more
modifications done to FalconJX?

I would love for parts of Randori getting folded back in.  Do you think
FlexJS would be a good fit?  I do quite a bit of similarities between
Randori and FlexJS.

At some point I would like to see some nice JQuery (and perhaps Dojo)
integration with FlexJS.  Any chance the current tools in Randori can be
re-purposed and used in FlexJS?

Essentially, what I am looking for is a set of AS3 APIs which have an
equivalent JavaScript API for the existing JQuery UI library.  Any help
that can make this happen would be great.

Thanks again, for your time.

Regards,
Om

On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 11:28 AM, Michael A. Labriola <
labriola@digitalprimates.net> wrote:
>
> >1.  An overview of the tools would be great.  The README does not have a
> lot to start with.  Or, are there any other documentation that I am missing?
>
> You don't need to read through all of this, but if you want to get a sense
> of what it was all about, there are a bunch of tutorials, etc. Most are
> likely out of date [1]:
>
> Basic idea: Combination of a cross-compiler and an SDK using dependency
> injection and implicit lazy loading of dependencies. You write core AS with
> a simple DI framework based on the google guice project. The SDK made sure
> everything was there when it was needed. As you saw, you could then create
> API definitions (think of the playerglobal.swc) for other dependencies that
> you were available at runtime, whether they be in the browser itself or in
> another library that was loaded.
>

> >2.  I see projects for Ember, JQuery, Node, etc.  Does this mean that
> those frameworks are already supported in Randori?  What would it take to
> add a new framework (DOJO, for example)?
>
> Yes, versions of those were all supported. It really just takes creating
> an API definition with the right metadata so that the compiler understands
> what code to generate. I would need to get all involved to agree (which
> wouldn't be hard) but all of Randori was under an Apache license so that,
> if at any point, this project took an interest in what we did, it would be
> easy to fold it back in. We didn't want to do it within the Apache process
> itself, but we always hoped it might end up back here.
>
>
> [1]
> https://github.com/RandoriAS/randori-plugin-intellij/wiki/Lesson-01-Project-Setup
>
>

RE: [FlexJS] Randori, tools, etc.

["Michael A. Labriola" <la...@digitalprimates.net>]

>I really enjoyed C# programming when I used it more. Why didn't you continue down the C# path for Randori?

We did. There are Randori versions for both C# and ActionScript and several big deployed apps on both. However, TypeScript launched and began gaining popularity. IMO, it makes a lot more sense as a language to target JS than C# or AS with less runtime emulation required to make things work out and a cleaner approach in a bunch of other ways, which makes sense... it was designed for this purpose. At the time the TypeScript compiler wasn't extensible unfortunately so I didn't have a way to hook in the Randori work there or I would have, and I haven't kept up with it to see if that changed.

Mike

On Wed, Dec 17, 2014 at 12:14 PM, Michael A. Labriola < labriola@digitalprimates.net> wrote:
>
> Om-
>
> >Thanks for the link.  I went through the whole documentation (still 
> >have
> some questions, though).  It looks pretty solid.  Any reason there has 
> not been much activity on Randori for a while?  Are you planning some 
> new updates any time soon?
>
> Nope. There wasn't enough interest in cross-compiling ActionScript to 
> JavaScript to make it worth the considerable time investment to continue.
> While many people were interested, most of the real-world clients we 
> met with had decided on a rewrite strategy and weren't interested in 
> maintaining code in ActionScript.
>
> >The cross-compiler is straight up FalconJX, right?  Or has there been
> more modifications done to FalconJX?
>
> No, it's quite different in a lot of ways and the code it outputs is 
> considerably so. We weren't aiming at the same target so they are 
> divergent. They are forked from the same code though.
>
> >I would love for parts of Randori getting folded back in.  Do you 
> >think
> FlexJS would be a good fit?  I do quite a bit of similarities between 
> Randori and FlexJS.
>
> I think that any parts of Randori that feel applicable can certainly 
> be used by FlexJS and any other parts can be taken by Apache freely 
> but Randori and FlexJS are orthogonal. Randori believed in 
> cross-compiling logic and providing OO access to a newly written UI in 
> HTML/JS. FlexJS is on a different path than that.
>
> >At some point I would like to see some nice JQuery (and perhaps Dojo)
> integration with FlexJS.  Any chance the current tools in Randori can 
> be re-purposed and used in FlexJS?
>
> Yeh, with minor modifications you could take libraries and provide 
> those for FlexJS users. You could probably also absorb some of the 
> compiler metadata and strategies we used to make library writing easier.
>
> >Essentially, what I am looking for is a set of AS3 APIs which have an
> equivalent JavaScript API for the existing JQuery UI library.  Any 
> help that can make this happen would be great.
>
> It's tricky to be honest AS is much more limited than JS in many ways. 
> We don't have method overloading so the fact that most JS libraries 
> allow arguments to functions to be multiple types at different times 
> makes it complex. You may want to start by looking at the list 
> typescript has (if you haven't already). [1] I tried to write a parser 
> that would read theirs and create AS versions but the fact the 
> TypeScript has overloaded interface definitions, etc. made it impossible for all but the simplest of libraries.
> The SharpKit project (C# to JS) also has a ton and served as some of 
> Randori's inspiration as the first version of Randori was written for C#.
>
> Mike
>
> [1] https://github.com/borisyankov/DefinitelyTyped
>

Re: [FlexJS] Randori, tools, etc.

[jude <fl...@gmail.com>]

> The SharpKit project (C# to JS) also has a ton and served as some of
Randori's inspiration as the first version of Randori was written for C#

I really enjoyed C# programming when I used it more. Why didn't you
continue down the C# path for Randori?

On Wed, Dec 17, 2014 at 12:14 PM, Michael A. Labriola <
labriola@digitalprimates.net> wrote:
>
> Om-
>
> >Thanks for the link.  I went through the whole documentation (still have
> some questions, though).  It looks pretty solid.  Any reason there has not
> been much activity on Randori for a while?  Are you planning some new
> updates any time soon?
>
> Nope. There wasn't enough interest in cross-compiling ActionScript to
> JavaScript to make it worth the considerable time investment to continue.
> While many people were interested, most of the real-world clients we met
> with had decided on a rewrite strategy and weren't interested in
> maintaining code in ActionScript.
>
> >The cross-compiler is straight up FalconJX, right?  Or has there been
> more modifications done to FalconJX?
>
> No, it's quite different in a lot of ways and the code it outputs is
> considerably so. We weren't aiming at the same target so they are
> divergent. They are forked from the same code though.
>
> >I would love for parts of Randori getting folded back in.  Do you think
> FlexJS would be a good fit?  I do quite a bit of similarities between
> Randori and FlexJS.
>
> I think that any parts of Randori that feel applicable can certainly be
> used by FlexJS and any other parts can be taken by Apache freely but
> Randori and FlexJS are orthogonal. Randori believed in cross-compiling
> logic and providing OO access to a newly written UI in HTML/JS. FlexJS is
> on a different path than that.
>
> >At some point I would like to see some nice JQuery (and perhaps Dojo)
> integration with FlexJS.  Any chance the current tools in Randori can be
> re-purposed and used in FlexJS?
>
> Yeh, with minor modifications you could take libraries and provide those
> for FlexJS users. You could probably also absorb some of the compiler
> metadata and strategies we used to make library writing easier.
>
> >Essentially, what I am looking for is a set of AS3 APIs which have an
> equivalent JavaScript API for the existing JQuery UI library.  Any help
> that can make this happen would be great.
>
> It's tricky to be honest AS is much more limited than JS in many ways. We
> don't have method overloading so the fact that most JS libraries allow
> arguments to functions to be multiple types at different times makes it
> complex. You may want to start by looking at the list typescript has (if
> you haven't already). [1] I tried to write a parser that would read theirs
> and create AS versions but the fact the TypeScript has overloaded interface
> definitions, etc. made it impossible for all but the simplest of libraries.
> The SharpKit project (C# to JS) also has a ton and served as some of
> Randori's inspiration as the first version of Randori was written for C#.
>
> Mike
>
> [1] https://github.com/borisyankov/DefinitelyTyped
>

RE: [FlexJS] Randori, tools, etc.

["Michael A. Labriola" <la...@digitalprimates.net>]

Om-

>Thanks for the link.  I went through the whole documentation (still have some questions, though).  It looks pretty solid.  Any reason there has not been much activity on Randori for a while?  Are you planning some new updates any time soon?

Nope. There wasn't enough interest in cross-compiling ActionScript to JavaScript to make it worth the considerable time investment to continue. While many people were interested, most of the real-world clients we met with had decided on a rewrite strategy and weren't interested in maintaining code in ActionScript.

>The cross-compiler is straight up FalconJX, right?  Or has there been more modifications done to FalconJX?

No, it's quite different in a lot of ways and the code it outputs is considerably so. We weren't aiming at the same target so they are divergent. They are forked from the same code though.

>I would love for parts of Randori getting folded back in.  Do you think FlexJS would be a good fit?  I do quite a bit of similarities between Randori and FlexJS.

I think that any parts of Randori that feel applicable can certainly be used by FlexJS and any other parts can be taken by Apache freely but Randori and FlexJS are orthogonal. Randori believed in cross-compiling logic and providing OO access to a newly written UI in HTML/JS. FlexJS is on a different path than that.

>At some point I would like to see some nice JQuery (and perhaps Dojo) integration with FlexJS.  Any chance the current tools in Randori can be re-purposed and used in FlexJS?

Yeh, with minor modifications you could take libraries and provide those for FlexJS users. You could probably also absorb some of the compiler metadata and strategies we used to make library writing easier.

>Essentially, what I am looking for is a set of AS3 APIs which have an equivalent JavaScript API for the existing JQuery UI library.  Any help that can make this happen would be great.

It's tricky to be honest AS is much more limited than JS in many ways. We don't have method overloading so the fact that most JS libraries allow arguments to functions to be multiple types at different times makes it complex. You may want to start by looking at the list typescript has (if you haven't already). [1] I tried to write a parser that would read theirs and create AS versions but the fact the TypeScript has overloaded interface definitions, etc. made it impossible for all but the simplest of libraries. The SharpKit project (C# to JS) also has a ton and served as some of Randori's inspiration as the first version of Randori was written for C#.

Mike

[1] https://github.com/borisyankov/DefinitelyTyped