SCRIPT-8: An 8 Bit Fantasy Computer Programmed with Javascript

This is exceptional - an online IDE with tutorials, sprite and tune editor, interesting code examples and little games to hack on, even an upload to share feature.

It only looks a bit ~dusty due to the sepia pallet, should be good to have other choices like a neon hue, and even free custom selection. But hats off here, this is a great resource !

Everything compiles to JS these days, so it is an easy lowest common denominator.

Lua is a semantically cleaner alternative but it has relatively less mindshare and hence less third-party support.

>Everything compiles to JS these days, so it is an easy lowest common denominator.

That's not even remotely true. JS is only a common denominator for running code in a browser, but the lowest common denominator is still C/C++ and Java, even with native applications vs. Electron.

Hello everybody, author here. I hope you enjoy my tiny project.

Regarding language, I chose Javascript for three reasons:

- the (ab)use of `eval` lets you do all sorts of sorcery, like instant evaluation

- the JS Redux library makes it easy to work with state, and I couldn't have implemented SCRIPT-8's time-traveling debugger without it

- I dream in Javascript

I love Lua's small footprint, and very early on I considered writing SCRIPT-8 in MoonScript, which compiles to Lua and has gorgeous syntax. Maybe some day.

And yes, my fantasy computer is definitely not the only open source project, there's several out there, and probably all of them are more stable than mine. Go check them out.

I'm an avid Pico-8/fantasy computer fan, and this is a really nice project. There have been quite a number of fantasy consoles coming out within the past few years, so it's nice to see one that offers features that the others don't, rather than simply "Pico-8, but with a twist". The live coding window and sliders in particular are simple things that increase QoL.

Others have noted that the use of JS is somewhat of a turn off, but even as a big Lua fan myself, it doesn't really bother me, I already have one (probably more than one) Lua fantasy console that covers my wishes. However, the author's comment here did mention adding MoonScript support, which would be something I would be very interested in.