WLambda - Embeddable Scripting Language for Rust

WLambda is a dynamic scripting language for Rust, where every value can be called and the syntax is a blend of Perl, Lua, JavaScript and LISP/Scheme/Clojure. It can be used as embedded scripting language or standalone with the provided REPL.

Here are some of its properties:

The embedding API and all internal operations rely on a data structure made of VVal nodes.

Here you can find the WLambda Language Reference.

Compiling WLambda

If you want to compile WLambda with all features enabled you need to run:

cargo build --features mqtt,http

or just:

cargo build --features all

API Hello World

```rust use wlambda::*;

match wlambda::eval("40 + 2") { Ok(v) => { println!("Output: {}", v.s()); }, Err(e) => { eprintln!("Error: {}", e); }, } ```

See further down below for more API usage examples!

WLambda Language Guide

Try out WLambda right away in the WASM WLambda Evaluator.

Variables

```wlambda !x = 10; # Variable definition

.x = 20; # Variable assignment ```

Operators

```wlambda !x = (1 + 2) * (8 - 4) / 2;

std:assert_eq x 6; ```

If

wlambda if $true { std:displayln "It's true!"; } { std:displayln "It's false!"; };

```wlambda !x = 10 / 2;

if x == 5 { std:displayln "x == 5"; }; ```

While

```wlambda !x = 10;

while x > 0 { std:displayln x;

(x == 5) {
    break[];
};
.x = x - 1;

}; ```

```wlambda !x = 10;

while x > 0 { std:displayln x;

if x == 5 {
    # break is a function, first arg
    # is the return value for `while`:
    break[];
};
.x = x - 1;

};

std:assert_eq x 5; ```

Counting Loop

```wlambda !sum = 0;

iter i 0 => 10 { .sum = sum + i; };

std:assert_eq sum 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9; ```

Endless loop

```wlambda !x = 10;

while $true { std:displayln x; .x = x - 1; if x == 0 break[]; }; ```

Functions

```wlambda !add = { _ + _1 }; # argument names _, _1, _2, ...

!result = add 2 3;

std:assert_eq result 5; ```

Different function call syntaxes:

```wlambda !add = {!(x, y) = @; # named variables, @ evals to list of all args x + y };

std:displayln[add[2, 3]]; # [] parenthesis calling syntax

std:displayln add[2, 3]; # less parenthesis

std:displayln (add 2 3); # explicit expression delimiting with ( ... )

std:displayln ~ add 2 3; # ~ means: evaluate rest as one expression

!add5 = { _ + 5 };

std:displayln 3 &> add5; # '&>' is an argument pipe operator

std:displayln add5 <& 3; # '<&' is the reverse argument pipe operator ```

Returning from nested functions:

```wlambda

!test = \:retlabela {!(x) = @;

# an `if` is actually a call to another function, so we need to
# dynamically jump upwards the call stack to the given label:
if x > 10 {
    return :ret_label_a x * 2;
};

};

std:assert_eq (test 11) 22; ```

Vectors

```wlambda !v = $[1, 2, 3]; v.1 = 5;

std:assert_eq v.1 5;

std:asserteq (std:pop v) 3; std:asserteq (std:pop v) 5; std:assert_eq (std:pop v) 1; ```

Iterating over an Vector

```wlambda !sum = 0;

iter i $[1, 2, 3, 4] { .sum = sum + i; };

std:assert_eq sum 10; ```

Accumulate values in a vector

```wlambda

!new_vec = $@vec iter i $i(0, 4) { $+ i; };

std:asserteq (str newvec) (str $[0,1,2,3]); ```

Accumulate a sum

```wlambda !sum = $@int iter i $i(0, 4) { $+ i; };

std:assert_eq sum 1 + 2 + 3; ```

Hash tables/maps

```wlambda !m = ${ a = 10, c = 2 };

m.b = m.a + m.c;

std:assert_eq m.b 12; ```

Strings

```wlambda !name = "Mr. X";

std:asserteq name.4 'X'; # index a character std:asserteq (name 0 3) "Mr."; # substring

!stuff = "日本人"; std:assert_eq stuff.0 '日'; # Unicode support ```

Unicode identifiers:

```wlambda !人 = "jin";

std:assert_eq 人 "jin"; ```

Handling Errors

```wlambda !somefun = { if _ == :fail { $error :FAILHAVING_FUN } { :ok } };

!res1 = match somefun[:ok] ($error :FAILHAVINGFUN) => :failed ? => :ok; std:asserteq res1 :ok;

!res1 = match somefun[:fail] ($error :FAILHAVINGFUN) => :failed ? => :ok; std:asserteq res1 :failed; ```

Builtin Structure Selectors

Selectors work similar to XPath: $S( *:{a=10} /b/1 ) first selects all maps from a vector, checks if they got a key-value pair that matches key=a and value=10. The selector path is walked for the matching maps and the b key is selected. Next the element at index 1 is selected and captured.

```wlambda !struct = $[ ${ a = 10, b = $[ 1, 2, 3 ] }, ${ a = 10, b = $[ 4, 5, 6 ] }, ${ a = 20, b = $[ 8, 9, 20 ] }, ${ a = 20, b = $[ 8, 10, 30 ] }, ${ x = 99 }, ${ y = 99 }, ];

if struct &> $S( *:{a=10} /b/1 ) { std:assertstreq $\ $[2,5]; } { panic "Should've matched!"; }; ```

Builtin Structure Matchers

A bit different but similar to the structure selectors $S ... are the $M ... or match structure matchers:

```wlambda !struct = $[ ${ a = 10, b = $[ 1, 2, 3 ] }, ${ a = 10, b = $[ 4, 5, 6 ] }, ${ a = 20, b = $[ 8, 9, 20 ] }, ${ a = 20, b = $[ 8, 10, 30 ] }, ${ x = 99 }, ${ y = 99 }, ];

!res = $@vec iter elem struct { $+ ~ match elem ${ a = 10, b = childs } => $[:childs10, $.childs] ${ a = 20, b = childs } => $[:childs20, $.childs] :other; };

std:assertstreq res $[ $[:childs10,$[1, 2, 3]], $[:childs10,$[4, 5, 6]], $[:childs20,$[8, 9, 20]], $[:childs20,$[8, 10, 30]], :other, :other, ]; ```

Builtin (Regex) Pattern Matching

```wlambda !some_url = "http://crates.io/crates/wlambda";

!crate = $none; !domain = $none;

if some_url &> $r{$^ (^$+[^:]) :// (^$*[^/]) /crates/ (^$+[a-z]) } { .domain = $.2; .crate = $.3; };

std:asserteq domain "crates.io"; std:asserteq crate "wlambda"; ```

Object Oriented Programming with prototypes

```wlambda !MyClass = ${ new = { ${ _proto = $self, _data = ${ balance = 0, } } }, deposit = { $data.balance = $data.balance + _; }, };

!account1 = MyClass.new[];

account1.deposit 100; account1.deposit 50;

std:asserteq account1.data.balance 150; ```

Object Oriented Programming with closures

```wlambda

!MyClass = { !self = ${ balance = 0, };

self.deposit = { self.balance = self.balance + _; };

$:self

};

!account1 = MyClass[];

account1.deposit 100; account1.deposit 50;

std:assert_eq account1.balance 150; ```

WLambda Modules

```txt

util.wl:

!@import std std; !@wlambda;

!@export print_ten = { std:displayln ~ str 10; }; ```

For import you do:

```txt !@import u util;

u:print_ten[] ```

Example WLambda Code

That was just a quick glance at the WLambda syntax and semantics.

More details for the syntax and the provided global functions can be found in the WLambda Language Reference.

Currently there are many more examples in the test cases in tests/language.rs.

API Usage Examples

Basic API Usage

Here is how you can quickly evaluate a piece of WLambda code:

rust let s = "$[1,2,3]"; let r = wlambda::eval(&s).unwrap(); println!("Res: {}", r.s());

More Advanced API Usage

If you want to quickly add some of your own functions, you can use the GlobalEnv add_func method:

```rust use wlambda::vval::{VVal, VValFun, Env};

let globalenv = wlambda::GlobalEnv::newdefault(); globalenv.borrowmut().addfunc( "mycrazy_add", |env: &mut Env, _argc: usize| { Ok(VVal::Int( env.arg(0).i() * 11 + env.arg(1).i() * 13 )) }, Some(2), Some(2));

let mut ctx = wlambda::compiler::EvalContext::new(global_env);

// Please note, you can also add functions later on, // but this time directly to the EvalContext:

ctx.setglobalvar( "mycrazymul", &VValFun::new_fun(|env: &mut Env, _argc: usize| { Ok(VVal::Int( (env.arg(0).i() + 11) * (env.arg(1).i() + 13))) }, Some(2), Some(2), false));

let resadd : VVal = ctx.eval("mycrazyadd 2 4").unwrap(); asserteq!(res_add.i(), 74);

let resmul : VVal = ctx.eval("mycrazymul 2 4").unwrap(); asserteq!(res_mul.i(), 221); ```

Maintaining state

```rust use wlambda::*;

let mut ctx = EvalContext::new_default();

ctx.eval("!x = 10").unwrap();

ctx.setglobalvar("y", &VVal::Int(32));

let r = ctx.eval("x + y").unwrap();

assert_eq!(r.s(), "42"); ```

Possible Roadmap

Current remaining goals for WLambda are:

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 3 or later.

Why GPL?

Picking a license for my code bothered me for a long time. I read many discussions about this topic. Read the license explanations. And discussed this matter with other developers.

First about why I write code for free at all, the reasons are:

Those are the reasons why I write code for free. Now the reasons why I publish the code, when I could as well keep it to myself:

Most of those reasons don't yet justify GPL. The main point of the GPL, as far as I understand: The GPL makes sure the software stays free software until eternity. That the end user of the software always stays in control. That the users have the means to adapt the software to new platforms or use cases. Even if the original authors don't maintain the software anymore. It ultimately prevents "vendor lock in". I really dislike vendor lock in, especially as developer. Especially as developer I want and need to stay in control of the computers and software I use.

Another point is, that my work (and the work of any other developer) has a value. If I give away my work without any strings attached, I effectively work for free. This compromises the price I (and potentially other developers) can demand for the skill, workforce and time.

This makes two reasons for me to choose the GPL:

  1. I do not want to support vendor lock in scenarios for free. I want to prevent those when I have a choice, when I invest my private time to bring value to the end users.
  2. I don't want to low ball my own wage and prices by giving away the work I spent my scarce private time on with no strings attached. So that companies are able to use it in closed source projects.

Conversion to MIT / Apache-2.0

I (WeirdConstructor) herby promise to release WLambda under MIT / Apache-2.0 license if you use it in an open source / free software game (licensed under MIT and/or Apache-2.0) written in Rust (and WLambda) with a playable beta release, non trivial amount of content and enough gameplay to keep me occupied for at least 2 hours. You may use WLambda for your release as if it was released under MIT and/or Apache-2.0. Proper attribution as required by MIT and/or Apache-2.0.

If you need a permissive or private license (MIT) right now

Please contact me if you need a different license and want to use my code. As long as I am the only author, I can change the license the for code that was written by me. We might find an agreement that involves money or something else. For your price estimations: At this point in time (May 2020) I invested about 6 months of my private time into this project.

Contribution

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in WLambda by you, shall be licensed as GPLv3 or later, without any additional terms or conditions.

Author

Contributors