Amber ==== Copyright 2011-2015 Nicolas Petton Copyright 2014-2017 Herbert Vojčík and [Amber contributors](CONTRIBUTORS) Amber is an implementation of the Smalltalk language that runs on top of the JavaScript runtime. It is designed to make client-side development faster and easier. Try Amber online and learn more on [project page](http://amber-lang.net). Overview -------- Amber is written in itself, including the parser and compiler. Amber compiles into efficient JavaScript, mapping one-to-one with the equivalent JavaScript. There is no interpretation at runtime. Some highlights: - Amber features an IDE with a Class browser, Workspace, Transcript, a ReferencesBrowser supporting senders/implementors and class references, basic Inspector and even a beginning of a Debugger and a unit TestRunner. - [Pharo Smalltalk](http://www.pharo-project.org) is considered as the reference implementation. - Amber is extendable with libraries, installable preferably via `bower`: - `amber-contrib-web` with a canvas to generate HTML, like [Seaside](http://www.seaside.st), included in a new project by default, - `silk` with a stream-like wrapping of DOM elements, included in a new project by default, - `helios` IDE, included in a new project by default, - `amber-contrib-legacy` with smaller in-page "classic" IDE and some miscellany, included in a new project by default, - `trysmalltalk`, containing [Prof Stef](http://amber-lang.net/learn.html) interactive crash course. - and others. You can easily write an Amber library yourself. - Amber can use Javascript libraries; the "classic" IDE as well as Helios are built on [jQuery](http://www.jquery.com) - You can inline Javascript code and there are many ways to interact between Amber and Javascript Prerequisities ------------- Amber cli tool to create new projects and assist with development tasks is in a [npm](http://npmjs.org) package `amber-cli`. Amber engine and core library to be used in projects is in a [bower](https://github.com/bower/bower) package `amber`. For the installation to work, you need to have installed `node`, `npm` and `git`. Default `node` installers may install `npm` as well. To have `git` in Windows, use Git for Windows and select "Run Git from Windows Command Prompt" and "Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style" installation options. For UNIX-based OS (Linux distibutions, FreeBSD, ...) do npm config set prefix=~/npm export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/npm/bin" to have the installation in a local subdirectory in order to avoid the otherwise necessary ``sudo`` installation of Amber. The export line needs to be added to the ~/.profile file as well so that after a new login the path is set. Getting Amber and setting up an initial project ----------------------------------------------- Do this to install Amber # Install the CLI tool `amber-cli` and supporting tools npm install -g grunt-cli grunt-init bower amber-cli Use ``amber init`` to create a project of your own # Initialize your project (directory must be empty) cd /path/to/myproject amber init # (optional) Install backward compatibility bower install amber-compat-es5 --save # be loadable in older browsers Start developing in Amber Smalltalk # Serve amber on localhost:4000 amber serve In case something fails... -------------- - Amber hackers can be found on the Rocket.chat instance here: https://chat.amber-lang.net - Most of Amber discussion and help happens on the [Google group](http://groups.google.com/group/amber-lang) - Report issues with the www.amber-lang.net website here: https://lolg.it/amber/amber-website/issues. - Report issues with the docs.amber-lang.net website here: https://lolg.it/amber/documentation/issues. - Report issues with `amber init` project template here: https://lolg.it/amber/grunt-init-amber/issues. - Report issues with Amber engine, core library or `amber` / `amberc` cli tools here: https://lolg.it/amber/amber/issues. - Report issues with the Helios IDE here: https://lolg.it/amber/helios/issues. Please refer to [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for further details. Developing Amber -------------- Please refer to [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for further details. It explains the Amber development setup and how to contribute. License ------- Amber is released under the MIT license. All contributions made for inclusion are considered to be under MIT.