A Forth-inspired language for writing websites

4 hours ago

The author has created a stack-based language called Forge, inspired by Forth, for writing websites.
Forge allows users to define words or functions that generate HTML elements and microformats, enabling easy webpage composition.
Website structure consists of pages (.forge files), a shared word library (lib.forge), and a stylesheet (style.css).
A single binary compiles Forge to HTML using WebAssembly, supporting both server-side rendering (for SEO and WebMentions) and client-side rendering via a service worker for a single-page application experience.
The language supports interacting with persistent storage, such as state, localStorage, or an append-only server log (JSONL format), illustrated by features like adding a "like" button.
Forms in Forge can submit to other .forge pages, where data is handled on the stack and can be logged using built-in functions.
The author experiments with Forge as a personal creative project, finding the language's constraints interesting and considering using it for their own site.

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