README.md

FrankenScript

It's ALLLIIIIIVEEEEEEE!

Just kidding, that would be cool, though.

Status: Experimental

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Introduction

FrankenScript is a Partial Application utility for JavaScript.

Usage

Let's dissect addition and turn it into a monstrosity. Here is an explicit addition function, plus:

function plus(n,m) {
  return n+m;
}

Very standard. Now, in order to mutilate arbitrary functions and turn them into nightmares, we use Uhgg.

var frankenPlus = Ughh(plus);

...which is pronounced groan. frankenPlus can make for some pretty abbominable arithmetic! Watch in horror as we attach the dismembered parameters and get our desired solution:

var frankenPlus1 = frankenPlus(1);

frankenPlus1(2);
➥ 3

frankenPlus1(3);
➥ 4

Now that frankenPlus has the strength of a hundred functions, we can really be a mad (computer) scientist! For instance, zipWith:

var set1 = [1,2,3,4,5];
var set2 = [1,2,3,4,5,6];

zipWith(frankenPlus, set1, set2);
➥ [ 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 ]

or, equivalently with Underscore's map & element-wise application:

var plusN = _.map(set1, frankenPlus);

app(plusN, set2);
➥ [ 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 ]

Both zipWith and app are taken from Haskell.

Addons

Chunked Application

Lo-Dash has a curry function that does something similar to the partial application examples above, but it blends between JavaScript's multiple parameters and chained invocations. Now, I've included the same functionality so we can do fun stuffs like this:

var plus4 = function (a,b,c,d){
  return a+b+c+d;
}
var frankenPlus4 = Ughh(plus4);

frankenPlus4(1)(2)(3)(4);
➥ 10

frankenPlus4(1,2)(3,4);
➥ 10

frankenPlus4(1)(2,3,4);
➥ 10

I have an issue calling this curry, because JavaScript's native multi-parameter function application (,) is not a tuple or product functor - it's not even a value, however it might be unique. Regardless, you can't say it's the product functor universally, because it's not first-class. I'm going to try and make a proper curry / uncurry that respects the adjoint, but first I need a lambda calculus.

Trivial Type Checking

We now have a very, very trivial method to declaring type signatures for your function. Observe:

var plusT = Ughh.typed("Number -> Number -> Number", function (n,m) {return n+m});

plusT;
➥ { [Function: func] typeSig: 'Number -> Number -> Number' }

plusT(1);
➥ { [Function: func] typeSig: 'Number -> Number' }

plusT(1)(2);
➥ 3

plusT(1)("foo");
➥ [Error: Parameter(s) does not match type signature]

TODO

• Hindley-Milner parametric polymorphism type inference
• Incremental (pseudo) type checking and signature declaration / binding
• Fixpoint termination with explicit recursion
• Lazy and Eager evaluation schemes