Glayzzle - PHP to JS transpiler

This is a CLI library in order to run a PHP script using the NodeJS V8 engine.

Why (disclaimer) ?

I'm a PHP developper from years. Now I'm mainly using NodeJS and Javascript because that's the way to go. I won't discuss about NodeJS vs PHP, because they came with different advantages, and honestly I like both for diferents reasons.

The main motivation behind this project is to empower a PHP developper with the same abilities of NodeJS or Javascript. You are maybe thinking, if a developper want to do same thing as a nodejs application can do, why not learning and using directly NodeJS ? Well, here some reasons :

• Learning curve
• Grasp Prototypal principles, scopes ...
• Habits & loosing landmarks
• Loosing typehinting habits, or dyslike Duck Typing
• Loosing SOLID principles / patterns
• ... and maybe others, lets chat if you want to share your experience

You are JS purist and Glayzzle burns your eyes !

This project is not made for someone who masters JS and don't like PHP. It's just a matter of taste, some guys prefer SOLID vs Duck typing, and may prefer use a friendly syntax used from years instead learning a new syntax like Typescript.

What you can do with ?

The project is still under developpement, so you can't use it yet 😄.

Seriously, I plan to :

• Handle all PHP structures (namespace, classes, traits, interfaces)
• Impl a PHP core specific layer (in order to support main PHP functions)
• Impl a new syntax keyword in order to natively support any Javascript library
• Impl a debug support with node
• Impl plugins for gulp/grunt/babel in order to export code for browser
• Add a support for apache codova
• Add a support for electron

Things you could do with :

• Write a mobile application
• Write a GUI application
• Every cool stuff you could do in NodeJS
• Write an application for the browser
• Use frameworks like Vue.JS, SailsJS or Express/Koa

Things you can't do :

• Run an old application (PHP modules like PDO or lib_mysql will not be available)
• Dynamic variable name lookup like $$var, not sure I want to degrade overall performance in order to be able to do that
• Maybe others, work is still in progress

For JS guys who cry : Don't block the loop !

PHP is synchronous, some implementations with libevent/promises was done as experiments - like react php (BTW the Hello world demo is almost the same as NodeJS 😉)

The main problem here is how to make run synchronous code without blocking the loop.

My answer to this would be : let I/O tasks to be run asynchrously, and execute next statement when task result is ready.

Now how to do that without breaking the structure flow, and without degrading performances ?

I will use generators and promises in order to achieve this, the resulting transpiled code will be easy to read and will perform well with a native support.

Install & Run :

npm install -g glayzzle
glz -r "echo 'hello world';"

To run a PHP file you can use the same parameter as PHP :

glz -f your-file.php
// or
glz your-file.php

You can also run a script as a server (using NodeJS cluster module)

glz -S 127.0.0.1:8080 index.php

Other planed things :

• Add a standalone FCGI support in order to run it with Apache/Ngnix
• Add a generic daemon FCGI server (something similar to php-fcgi)

Project Status :

Actually the project is a Prof Of Concept, and does not run over all PHP syntax.

Here's my todo list :

• 100% - Develop a parser/lexer
• 10% - Develop a runtime
• 20% - Develop a transpiler
• 10% - Develop a compatibility layer
• 0% - Write some awesome demo

If you want to contribute, or found a typo (I'm French), fell free to contact me from my website http://glayzzle.com or from github.