Berliner: Sinatra like Framework written in 16 lines of CoffeeScript. (berliner.jcoglan.com)

Sixteen disgustingly ugly minified lines don't count.

It's just minified. There are some half-decent ideas in there, it appears to be a half-hearted, lame joke.

Wait, how's this different from Express?

The whole "in X lines" makes a lot more sense in the browser context (as it needs to download the script), not so much on the server side.

16 lines, not really, 16 x 80 characters = 16 lines.

Otherwise, cool project.

well, at first i was excited because i would love an express like router/framework with a code base that i can grok in <15 minutes.

then i saw the code https://github.com/jcoglan/berliner/blob/coffee/berliner.cof... and think this is just lame.

would like to see the real code.

Can we see the real source please?

Funny that so many commenters don't recognize trolling of CoffeeScript developers/frameworks

Will real, lasting apps be built in this?

I'm not sure why languages need to put on a programming pageant.

If it works for you, great, use it to build something cool. I've regularly used about a dozen languages in the last decade. End user Customers don't care what I code in as long as I make their life easier, not just my own.

By taking the time to learn what I'm using for yourself these kinds of comparisons would be a lot more productive than trying to build up the coolness factor. Many Languages were made in the 90's. Even more frameworks come and go, most aim to do similar things, over and over. Maybe it's just me, bulls something for the world.

If you prefer synchronous server side JavaScript, I would recommend also checking out Stick, a CommonJS compatible Sinatra like framework that can also be used from CoffeeScript: https://github.com/olegp/stick

For those that don't see the context: This was written at eurucamp, where we had a talk about a minimal Sinatra in 8 lines. (Almost Sinatra)

For those who wish to see the non-minified source:

The code has not been minified, except perhaps for the replacement of the (carriage return+indent) by semi-columns. Most variable names are semantic.

For sure, the 16 LoC thing is misleading, but the whole thing weights around 3.5 KB, which is impressive for the amount of functionality packed in it.

Let's take the first two lines:

    [J,M,duc,euc,n,e,w]=[JSON,Math,decodeURIComponent,encodeURIComponent,((p)->p.replace(/\/*$/,'').replace /^\/?/,'/'),((d,s)->d[k]=(if d[k]instanceof Array then d[k].concat v else v)for k,v of s;d),(s,c)->s.split(/\s+/).map c]
    [http,url,qs,fs,async,WS,E,haml,ejs,mime]=w 'http url querystring fs async faye-websocket vault/node/aes haml ejs mime',require

For iOS readers, you can scroll the code box using two fingers.

So:

    [J,M,duc,euc]=[JSON,Math,decodeURIComponent,encodeURIComponent]

is quite obvious. So is the second line except perhaps for the use of the w function. It splits the input string on spaces in an array and maps the callback passed as second argument (in this case, require, if you didn't scroll til the end of the line). We'll come to its meaning later.

    n = (p)->p.replace(/\/*$/,'').replace /^\/?/,'/' 
    # normalize?(path??) not sure about his one. 
    # p is also used elsewhere as a generic name.

    e = (d,s)->d[k]=(if d[k]instanceof Array then d[k].concat v else v)for k,v of s;d)
    # extend(destination, source)
    # k and v are obviously key and value.

    w = (s,c)->s.split(/\s+/).map c]
    # w(string, callback)

In Ruby, w%foo bar baz% is a shortcut for creating an array of strings ["foo","bar","baz"]. The w method here is enhanced version of this, and a nod to _why, who often used it to require a bunch of libraries at the top of his scripts. See for example https://github.com/camping/camping/blob/ddea5760289a4de3c270...

For those who don't know about him, _why is the author of Camping, the grand-father of golf Web microframeworks. The current version doesn't use the w trick anymore because the reduction of dependencies made the normal method shorter. Here's the code (possibly NSFL for some...):

https://github.com/camping/camping/blob/master/lib/camping.r...

and its heavily commented (but as terse, codewise) version:

https://github.com/camping/camping/blob/master/lib/camping-u...

Camping used to be the go to ruby microframework until _why's disappearance. Then dev stalled for a while and Sinatra took its place. It has since been revamped and is actively maintained.

Neither Camping nor Berliner are meant for professional use, obviously.

    something.replace /^\/?/,'/' 

I'm disappointed that this is mostly a joke. I really like the docs and have been looking for something along these lines lately.

    [0]: http://zappajs.org/docs/crashcourse/
    [1]: http://twitter.com/mauricemach
    [2]: http://coffeekup.org/ && https://github.com/mauricemach/coffeekup
    [3]: https://github.com/gradus/coffeecup

   db = require('./your_sexy_data_access_module')
   server = require('lazorse').server port: 3000, ->
     # in this context we register resources the app using @resource
     @resource '/things/{thingId}':
       shortName: "Things"
       GET: ->
         db.getThing @thingId, @data
       POST: ->
         db.getThing @thingId, (err, thing) =>
           return @next(err) if err
           thing.update(@req, @data)

   db = require('./your_sexy_data_access_module')
   server = require('lazorse').server port: 3000, ->

     @coerce 'thing', "Things are whatever this app deals in", db.getThing

     @resource '/things/{thing}':
       shortName: "Things"
       GET: ->
         # Use @ok because we won't get here if there was an error retrieving
         # the thing
         @ok @thing
       POST: ->
         @thing.update @req, @data