https://github.com/jcubic/lips
Scheme based powerful lisp interpreter in JavaScript
https://github.com/jcubic/lips
bookmarklet hacktoberfest language lisp lisp-interpreter lisp-language macros parser r5rs r5rs-scheme r7rs r7rs-scheme repl s-expression scheme scheme-interpreter support-bigint
Last synced: about 1 month ago
JSON representation
Scheme based powerful lisp interpreter in JavaScript
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/jcubic/lips
- Owner: jcubic
- License: other
- Created: 2018-02-23T17:39:04.000Z (over 7 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2025-05-01T15:08:59.000Z (about 2 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-05-07T19:26:24.605Z (about 1 month ago)
- Topics: bookmarklet, hacktoberfest, language, lisp, lisp-interpreter, lisp-language, macros, parser, r5rs, r5rs-scheme, r7rs, r7rs-scheme, repl, s-expression, scheme, scheme-interpreter, support-bigint
- Language: JavaScript
- Homepage: https://lips.js.org
- Size: 37.3 MB
- Stars: 443
- Watchers: 11
- Forks: 39
- Open Issues: 95
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
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[LIPS is a powerful Scheme-based, Lisp language written in JavaScript](https://lips.js.org).
It is based on the Scheme dialect of lisp and the R5RS/R7RS specifications. It has extensions to make it easier
to interact with JavaScript and extend the language. It works both in the browser and with Node.js.
The aim of the project is to support full R7RS specification and be compatible with [Scheme programming language](https://www.scheme.org/).
The name is a recursive acronym which stands for LIPS Is Pretty Simple.
## Demo
[Web REPL Demo](https://lips.js.org/#demo)
## Features
* Literal regular expression.
* Asynchronous execution (auto resolving of promises).
* Possibility to add new syntax (similar to vectors and object).
* Numerical tower and Big Integer support.
* Powerful introspection.
* Great integration with JavaScript.
* Auto formatting lisp of code (pretty print)
* Lisp and hygienic Scheme macros and macroexpand.
* Builtin help system.
## Installation
To install you can use npm (or yarn)
**NOTE:** The version that is on NPM is heavily outdated, use beta version:
```
npm install lips@beta
```
or yarn:
```
yarn add lips@beta
```
then include the file in the script tag. You can grab the version from unpkg.com
```
https://unpkg.com/lips@beta
```
or from jsDelivr (that's seems a bit faster)
```
https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/lips@beta/dist/lips.min.js
```
## Bookmarklet REPL
You can also run the REPL on any page while you learn Scheme using the bookmarklet:
```
https://github.com/jcubic/lips/blob/master/lib/js/bookmark.js
```
Create any link in your bookmarks, edit it and copy-paste the content of that file.
After you click on the link it will create the REPL at the bottom of the page.
(NOTE: It may not work on every page because of content security policy;
e.g. google.com or gihub.com)
If you have trouble with creating the bookmarklet, you can open
[LISP Scheme home page](https://lips.js.org/#bookmark) where you can
find a link that you can drag to your bookmarks.
## Usage
The simplest way is to include the lips code in the script tag:
```html
(let ((what "world")
(greet "hello"))
(display (string-append greet " " what)))
```
or use the `src` attribute:
```html
```
## Bootstrapping Scheme system
Big part of LIPS is written in LIPS itself, but to use full power of LIPS you need
to load those additional Scheme files. The easiest way is to add `bootstrap` attribute
on first script tag with `text/x-scheme` type. By default, it will use CDN from
[jsdelivr](https://www.jsdelivr.com/). To load each file using builtin load function
(that will fetch the file using AJAX and evaluate it).
```html
```
You can also specify the path where LIPS should search for standard library.
```html
```
You can use `bootstrap="./std.xcb"` if there is `std.xcb` file in local directory.
You can also bootstrap with `std.scm` or `std.min.scm` but xcb file is the fastest,
because it's already parsed and compiled into binary format.
## Running LIPS programmatically
```javascript
var {exec} = require('lips'); // node
// or
var {exec} = lips; // browser
exec(string).then(function(results) {
results.forEach(function(result) {
console.log(result.toString());
});
});
```
When running exec you will also need to bootstrap the language and loaded files from `/lib/` directory.
Documentation about beta version can be found in
[Wiki](https://github.com/jcubic/lips/wiki/v1.0.0).
## Standalone executable
**NOTE:** Executable don't require bootstrapping lib files.
If you install lips globally with:
```
npm install -g lips@beta
```
you can run the interpreter from the terminal:
You can also run code in a string with:
```
lips -c '(let ((what "World")) (display (string-append "Hello " what)))'
```
and you can run a file using:
```
cat > foo.scm <.scm")
```
They should be loaded as R7RS libraries in final 1.0.0 version
| description | spec |
| :--- | ---: |
| List Library | [SRFI-1](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-1/) |
| `AND-LET*`: an AND with local bindings, a guarded `LET*` special form | [SRFI-2](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-2/) |
| receive: Binding to multiple values | [SRFI-8](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-8/) |
| `#,` external form | [SRFI-10](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-10/) |
| Notation for Specializing Parameters without Currying | [SRFI-26](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-26/) |
| Basic hash tables | [SRFI-69](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-69/) |
| Boxes | [SRFI-111](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-111/) |
| Syntactic combiners for binary predicates | [SRFI-156](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-156/) |
| Multiple-value boxes | [SRFI-195](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-195) |
| Procedures and Syntax for Multiple Values | [SRFI-210](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-210/) |
| Evaluating expressions in an unspecified order | [SRFI-236](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-236) |
| Destructuring Lists | [SRFI 239](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-239/) |
in Web (e.g. in Web REPL) you can also use full URL:
```scheme
(load "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/lips@beta/lib/srfi/.scm")
```
## Links
* [Gitter Chat for discussions](https://gitter.im/jcubic/lips)
* [LIPS: Scheme in JavaScript Git Repository](https://github.com/jcubic/lips)
* [Official Website](https://lips.js.org/)
* [Twitter/X](https://twitter.com/LIPS_scheme)
### Articles
* [How to start learning Lisp](https://jcubic.pl/2019/05/jak-zaczac-nauke-lispa.html) (PL with translator widget)
### Press
* [JavaScript Weekly](https://javascriptweekly.com/issues/669)
* [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38819212)
* [Brian Lovin](https://brianlovin.com/hn/38819212) (HN clone)
## Roadmap
### 1.0
- [x] Full support for R5RS
- [ ] Full support for R7RS
- [ ] R7RS libraries (`import`/`export`/`define-library`).
- [ ] Continuations.
- [ ] Tail Call Optimization (TCO).
- [ ] Fully tested Numerical Tower.
- [x] Fully working binary compiler (for faster parsing and loading std lib).
- [ ] Finish `syntax-rules` (ignore limitations of current approach).
- [ ] Objects.
- [ ] Vectors.
### Future Plans
- [ ] Picture language (possibly inspired by P5.js, see [SRFI-203](https://srfi.schemers.org/srfi-203/srfi-203.html)).
- [ ] Stepper/Debugger.
- [ ] Allow to use read/port in syntax extensions (similar to CL reader macros).
- [ ] Proper expansion time for both macro systems.
- [ ] Fully working and tested R7RS hygienic Macros (`syntax-rules`).
- [ ] All recursive function in JS don't consume stack.
### WIP Side projects
- [ ] [KISS](https://github.com/jcubic/kiss) (Chrome extension REPL).
- [ ] [SMILE](https://github.com/jcubic/smile) (Web IDE), need to start over.
## How you can help
I'm working on version 1.0. If you find any bugs, you can help by reporting them.
If you have some Scheme code that doesn't work (note about the limitations)
don't hesitate to [report an issue](https://github.com/jcubic/lips/issues/new).
You can also propose a feature or improvement to the library, it doesn't always have to be defects.
If you enjoy the library, you can write about it on a blog post and share information about it or write on Social Media.
Don't forget to link to the project website (it's
[good for SEO](https://itnext.io/seo-for-open-source-projects-1a6b17ffeb8b)).
Of course, if you want you can also contribute with code, but there are way easier ways to help.
I would also love to see if you use the library, I may even share the links of projects that use it.
## Acknowledgments
* Font used in logo is [Telegrafico](https://www.dafont.com/telegrafico.font) by [ficod](https://www.deviantart.com/ficod).
* The cover image for GitHub and Blog Posts use clipart by [Baptiste Gaultier](https://openclipart.org/artist/b.gaultier).
* Part of the current Parser is inspired by implementation in [BiwaScheme](https://www.biwascheme.org/) by Yutaka HARA (yhara).
* `fetch` polyfill use [unfetch](https://github.com/developit/unfetch) by Jason Miller.
* Browser `init` function use [ContentLoaded](http://javascript.nwbox.com/ContentLoaded/).
* The rationalize algorithm is based on [Kawa Scheme](https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/index.html) by Per M.A. Bothner, Alan Bawden and Marc Feeley.
* `ucs2decode` function taken from [punycode.js](https://github.com/bestiejs/punycode.js) by [Mathias Bynens](https://mathiasbynens.be/).
* [Rosetta Code](https://rosettacode.org/) was used for:
* [gdc](https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Greatest_common_divisor#JavaScript),
* [lcm](https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Least_common_multiple#JavaScript),
* [LFloat::toRational](https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Convert_decimal_number_to_rational).
* [StackOverlow](https://stackoverflow.com) code was used for functions:
* [fworker](https://stackoverflow.com/a/10372280/387194),
* [flatten](https://stackoverflow.com/a/27282907/387194),
* [allPossibleCases](https://stackoverflow.com/a/4331218/387194),
* [async replace](https://stackoverflow.com/a/48032528/387194).
* Code formatter is roughly based on [scheme-style](http://community.schemewiki.org/?scheme-style) and GNU Emacs scheme mode.
* Some helpers in standard library are inspired by same functions from [RamdaJS library](https://ramdajs.com/).
Special thanks:
* [Lassi Kortela](https://github.com/lassik) for helping with Scheme code.
* [Niels Wijers](https://github.com/nielswijers) for handing over the [lips npm name](https://www.npmjs.com/package/lips).
Thanks for [Algolia DocSearch](https://docsearch.algolia.com/) for providing free search on LIPS website.
## License
Released under [MIT](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) license
Copyright (c) 2018-2024 [Jakub T. Jankiewicz](https://jcubic.pl/me)
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