umkevinc / webchurch

A Church to Javascript compiler

webchurch

Install

Dependencies

• nodejs v0.10.26 (see package.json for npm dependencies). Some people have reported that v0.10.28 doesn't work but that switching to v0.10.26 does
• Python (on Windows; version must be > 2.5 and < 3.0)

Installing with git (preferred method)

In a terminal, go to wherever you want your webchurch folder to live and run:

git clone https://github.com/probmods/webchurch.git
cd webchurch
git init ## only if you are on Windows
git submodule update --init --recursive
npm install
./compile.sh

Note that you only need to run git init on Windows.

To pull-in and work in a particular branch (say box2d):

lists all branches, local and remote to see what box2d is called on remote

git branch -a

setup local branch box2d to track remote branch box2d

git branch -b box2d remote/origin/box2d

switch to branch box2d

git checkout box2d

Installing without git

(not good for getting updates, but useful if you can't/don't want to get git installed)

1. Download the webchurch ZIP

2. Unarchive the zip file and go to that directory (called webchurch-master)

3. Download probabilistic-js, unarchive this file, rename it to probabilistic-js, and move it into the webchurch-master folder (replacing the folder that's already there)

4. In terminal, go to webchurch-master folder and run the following commands:

    npm install
    ./compile.sh
   

Making church a global command

If you want to be able to call church from anywhere on the command line, this is what you would do:

1. If you don't alreay have a directory ~/bin, make that directory.

2. Add a symbolic link to the church executable:

    ln -s path/to/webchurch/church ~/bin/
   

3. If you don't already have a file called ~/.bash_profile, make that file

4. Open that file and add the line:

    export PATH=$PATH:~/bin
   

5. Re-open your terminal or source ~/.bash_profile

Now you can use the command church from any directory.

Usage

In a web browser

Open online/index.html. If you wish to use the load builtin for dynamically loading Church or Javascript libraries, you will need to access this page from the http:// protocol rather than the file:// protocol. We provide a simple way to do this. First, run npm run-script server on the command line and then point your browser to http://localhost:8080/online/index.html

On the command line

church [OPTIONS] [FILE] will run the contents of [FILE].

Available options:

• -p, --precompile: Turn on pre-compilation (very experimental)
• -a, --program-args [MESSAGE]: Arguments to pass to program. MESSAGE is sent to Church is the argstring variable.
• -s, --seed [SEED]: Set the seed for the random number generator.
• -t, --timed: Print out timing information.
• -d, --desugar-only: Apply Church desugaring without execution.
• -c, --compile-only: Compile to Javascript without execution.
• -e, --disable-church-errors: Disable special Church error checking and show Javascript errors instead.