The Brains@Play Framework (Brains@Play) is a copyleft rapid application development (RAD) system for high-performance web applications. Using a custom specification language and native ECMAScript Modules syntax, we automate inspectability and composability for the developer in order to enable the proliferation of reusable code blocks and the recomposition of the Open Web.
š§© Familiar: We don't lock users into unnecessary abstractions. Just format code files as ES Modules!
ā” Performant: High-performance event-based logic using the graphscript library.
š Social: Derivative components can be published as NPM packages and registered on the components library to be shared with the world.
š Radically Open: This library is licensed under the AGPL license. All derivatives are also free and open-source software!
Future goals and aspirations can be found on our [roadmap] document.
With the release of ECMAScript 2015 (ES6), ECMAScript Modules (ES Modules) became the standard format to package JavaScript code for reuse and provide modularity to the Web.
export const world = () => console.log('hello world!')
export const friend = () => console.log('hello friend!')
import * as hello from './hello.js'
hello.world()
hello.friend()
However, since ES Modules didn't standardize the exported code itself, there remains a lack of support for immediate composability.
If you're most interested purely in scalable UI management, the Brains@Play Framework might not be for you. In this case, you might want to check out React, Vue, Svelte, Angular or the vast array of other UI frameworks.
On the other hand, this framework is particularly suited for organizing and sharing code at scale. If you're interested, read on!
We believe that the most general solutions are the best solutionsāperiod. As such, the Brains@Play Framework inherits from the datastream programming paradigm, which models programs as directed graphs of data flowing between operations.
Within this paradigm, you can use native ESM modules to produce reusable Components (either simple objects or complete Web Components) that are characterized by a default operation.
By design, default exports are distinguished by ES Modulesānot only our framework.
export const loop = 1000/10
export default () => true
export default (message="world") => console.log(`hello ${message}!`)
Using the Web Application Specification Language (WASL), you're then able to instantiate Components and define listeners that control the information flow between them.
{
"name": "My App",
"components": {
"trigger": {
"src": "trigger.js"
},
"hello": {
"src": "hello.js"
}
},
"listeners": {
"trigger": {
"hello": true
}
}
}
In our experience, we've found the Brains@Play Framework most useful for high-throughput, real-time applications (e.g. processing brain data streamed from an electroencephalography (EEG) device at 512hz, which is translated into UI changes that inform the user about their internal state). But we're excited to see the use-cases you all dream up for it!
In the near future, you will be able to use the visual programming system developed in ESCode for intuitive inspection, modification, and extension of WASL applications using our official components collection.
Brains@Play embodies our desire to support the joy of developers as they create high-performance applications. It encompasses many different goals including free software use, inspectability and, composability
More generally, Brains@Play refers to the culture of rapid prototyping that permeates the project through the composition of simple plugins without the need to focus on unneccesary complexity.
Our team, in particular, has a soft spot for accessibility concerns that support everyone with a brain, as the majority of our day-to-day work focuses on the development of web-based physiological computing software and low-cost biosensing hardware.
This documentation is written for programmers who care about the future of composability. We assume that you can read JavaScript codeāas all of the examples here are written for the browser (specifically the latest Chromium browsers) or Node.js. Other than that basic background, we try to present all the concepts you will need to play with the Brains@Play Framework.
We welcome anyone who would like to jump into the source code of our many supporting libraries. At this time, however, documentation changes may be a more appropriate entrypoint for contribution to the Brains@Play Framework. Make sure to check out our docs repository and contribute there!
Otherwise, if you've created a plugin for the Brains@Play Framework, make sure to link to the source package.json file with a pull request to components.
The Brains@Play Framework and all of its its dependencies have been released under the AGPLv3 license. It is maintained by Brains@Play LLC and its founding partners:
Keep reading to install the Brains@Play Framework and develop your first application!