An Open Source Web Development Language Helping Beginners Make Their First Contr...

LineScript

The open source markup language that complies into HTML at runtime, providing beautiful, easy syntax to create webpages.

Our Mission

Our mission, as the creators of LineScript, is to help beginners make their first contribution to open source through clear-cut contribution guides, a welcoming community, and open codebase.

It is specifically why we created the language: as a learning experience. It can be hard to start open source. There are millions of developers, millions of repositories, and incalculable lines of code written in dozens of languages. As a beginner, very little of how Git and open source work is known, and the majority of the code is far above the level of a someone just starting out. We know from experience that it is extremely challenging to start off in this world, and we want to make the experience of every new developer as easy as we can.

What is LineScript?

LineScript is a compiled programming language that is written in statements broken up by line to represent the page structure. It is compiled into a valid HTML document at runtime using the LineCompiler, and can be used to create real webpages.

The structure of the document is inspired by a combination of Elm and Haskell , while the tag names are close alterations of HTML. This leads to extremely clean code that is familiar to anyone who has developed for the web, making LineScript the perfect beginner language.

For styling documents in LineScript, you can link to external style sheets (such as Bootstrap or Skeleton ), use inline CSS, or use your own custom style sheet. All function of CSS3 is allowed, and extensions such as WebKit are able to be used.

JavaScript can be embedded in LineScript to interact with storage, the parsed HTML, servers, and more. LineScript also includes the ability to use JavaScript libraries such as jQuery .

However, LineScript does not support embedded style sheets or scripts. All CSS or JavaScript must be written inline or in a separate document.

Usage

See DOCS.md.

Contributing

Thanks to GitHub, it is very easy to contribute to open source. To make your first contribution, just follow the guide below.

Familiarize

Before you contribute, it is important that you Familiarize yourself with code syntax, structure, and style. The code you write must maintain uniform with already established code to make sure it functions properly and looks best for future contributors.

The code for the compiler is in the /src/ directory. Since that is where you will be coding, this is where you should familiarize.

The entire script uses cases and switched, to provide smooth flowing through different layers of the parsing process. Please, do not use if/else statements. They take up a lot more space and often do not work as planned.

Fork

This is where you start contributing. To fork the repository, click the button in the top right corner of the main page of the repository. This will create a clone of LineScript under your name, with you as the owner.

A fork is a branch of a repository where you can edit whatever you want without it affecting the overall project. While this may be true, you are discouraged from doing so, as it will render you unable to submit a pull request to push your changes.

Instead, take this opportunity to test bits of code to see what they do. When you feel you are ready to begin writing, you may move on.

Write

This is where your contribution takes place. You will be writing in the compiler, so you should open up that file. You now have the opportunity to add and edit the code, and that is exactly what you are going to do.

Add

If you are adding to the code, navigate to the bottom of the document. Make sure you are still inside the parse() function. This is where you will make your entry. Copy and paste code from another section of the document and add it to the bottom. Once the formatting is set up how you feel is correct, you may edit the values in your copied function to encompass a new tag. For example, if you copied the "1" tag and are creating a "3" tag, you would change

This

case "1":
   switch(v[1]) {
    case undefined:
    case null:
     output = "<h1>" + c[1] + "</h1>"
     return output;
     break;
    default:
     output = "<h1 " + v[1] + ">" + c[1] + "</h1>"
     return output;
     break;
   }

to This

case "3":
   switch(v[1]) {
    case undefined:
    case null:
     output = "<h3>" + c[1] + "</h3>"
     return output;
     break;
    default:
     output = "<h3 " + v[1] + ">" + c[1] + "</h3>"
     return output;
     break;
   }

Or, you may also write your own function from scratch, and include your own special functionality. It all depends on what you think you can do! Just make sure to comment and commit descriptively, so it is crystal-clear what you did.

Edit

If you find a bug in a function, or just want to make it more practical or add on, you can edit nonexistent functions! This can be done by simply editing values in a function of adding more cases to it. The more cases in a function, the more powerful it is. For example, if you wanted to add styles to a "1" tag, you would change

This

case "1":
   switch(v[1]) {
    default:
     output = "<h1 " + v[1] + ">" + c[1] + "</h1>"
     return output;
     break;
   }

to This

case "1":
   switch(v[1]) {
    case undefined:
    case null:
     output = "<h1>" + c[1] + "</h1>"
     return output;
     break;
    default:
     output = "<h1 " + v[1] + ">" + c[1] + "</h1>"
     return output;
     break;
   }

Pull Request

After you have completed your changes, it is time to create a pull request. In your fork, you can click the green "Pull Request" button. From here, it asks you to fill out a template, which you must do for the admins. After you have completed the steps, submit your request. This sends your fork to the admins for approval. If they approve it, it will automatically merge with master.

You're Done!

Congratulations! You finished making your first open source contribution. We'd love if you starred the repository (to attract more contributors) or contributed again, to make it even better!