Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Dak – a Lisp-like language that transpiles to JavaScript
Hi HN, author here. Happy to answer any questions. I had an itch to make a lisp like language that was a thin layer on top JavaScript. Something that could leverage the thriving ecosystem that exists around JavaScript. It's brittle, hot off the oven. Besides being a fan of parenthesis, I think macros fill in a gap that the JavaScript ecosystem today fills in with one-off compilers, bundler plugins and such. Macros can't do everything, but for example I think they have the potential to enable things like JSX, Solid and Svelte style libraries. Take the tour to get a feel for what it can do and…
Dak is a Lisp-like language that compiles to JavaScript, designed as a thin layer over the JavaScript ecosystem. It lets developers write code using Lisp syntax while accessing JavaScript libraries and tools. The… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Dak – a Lisp-like language that transpiles to JavaScript launched in 2023; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1
Hi friends, I started casually working on scrapscript in 2015. I built a few compilers over the years to test out various ideas/implementations, and I think I'm finally happy with the overall design. The code is not public yet. Email me at [email protected] if you're interested in joining the core team later this year. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback :)
2023 · scrapscript.org · its alternatives →
- 2
Next-level syntax for C-like languages :). Contribute to kiselgra/c-mera development by creating an account on GitHub.
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 3
Write your own compiler: introduction. Code genetation. AST. Abstract syntax tree. lisp. javascript.
2017 · blog.klipse.tech · its alternatives →
- 4IW
The book page links to a blog post that explains how I got about it (and has a link to sample content), but the TL&DR is that I could not find a lot of books that were on "our" history _and_ were larded with technical details. So I set about writing one, and some five years later I'm happy to share the result. I think it's one of the few "computer history" books that has tons of code, but correct me if I'm wrong (I wrote this both to tell a story and to learn :-)). My favorite languages are Smalltalk and Lisp, but as an Emacs user, I've been using the latter for much longer and for my…
Feb 2026 · berksoft.ca · its alternatives →
- 5
un-opinionated S-expression syntax and macro system for JavaScript - anko/eslisp
2015 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 6
A functional programming language with static memory management - vekatze/neut
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 7
A lisp-looking language with interpreter and compiler to JS - mcapodici/badlanguage
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 8
A lisp rosetta stone to demonstrate modern language features - eatonphil/lisp-rosetta-stone
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 9
i made an esoteric programming language which i call spellscript. every program is a "spell" written in a "grimoire," and you have to use keywords like summon, enchant, inscribe, and conjure. it's literally read like a spellbook because the syntax consists of all natural language, and newlines are optional. your code can now be an essay, like everybody wants! for example, if you want to print something, you'd write: `begin the grimoire. inscribe whispers of "hello, world!". close the grimoire.` it has variables, dynamic typing, arrays, functions, conditionals, loops, string manipulation,…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 10
a lisp implemented in Javascript (not very useful!) - jes5199/brid.js
2011 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 11
Matt Mueller's personal website for sharing what I've learned about programming, design, entrepreneurship and life.
2017 · mat.tm · its alternatives →
- 12IC
AntiLang is an interpreted programming language written in Go. The basic idea of this is to keep all the logical parts of a language same, but reverse the structure of it. The idea for this project came when I was having a long midnight conversation with my friend and thought of writing such a weird language. The initial draft was far worse than the current implementation; we thought of reversing the brackets and the language would be read from bottom to top. I'm happy that I dropped that idea Technical details: As the interpreter is written in Golang, I compiled it to WASM, and the whole…
2025 · siruscodes.github.io · its alternatives →
- 13
This is a hobby project of mine that I started a few years ago to learn about programming language implementation. It was created 95% without AI, although a few recent commits include code from Gemini CLI. I started out following Crafting Interpreters, but gradually branched off that until I had almost nothing left in common. Tech stack: Rust, Cranelift (JIT compilation), LALRPOP (parser). Original title: "A small programming language where everything is a value" (edited based on comments)
Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 14EA
eno [1] - A modern plaintext language w/ libraries [2] for JavaScript, Python, Ruby & soon more! We migrated a big relational research database to a file-based solution - requirements were: - Super fast and easy editability for users - Highest performance for parsing/validating >10K documents on every user change. Our trials with YAML/TOML showed us that we wanted something both faster [3][4] and easier [4], something tailored for file-based content management ... and after months of research & development it's now publicly available (under MIT license) for everyone! Last but…
2018 · its alternatives →
- 15
:aquarius: A Lisp-esque, JS-interpreted scripting language - tsortwehttam/runiq
2015 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 16
I've always found it cool to be in roles where I can help a younger generation learn skills to have a bright future. That role is something I do in a few ways (as a parent, robotics mentor, school board advisor and Sunday school teacher) and I suspect most HN readers share the same role and appreciation. And for developing software skills, it was obvious that both the students and I had to have a productive software environment where we could work together. That theme of experienced/inexperienced engineers working together is the context in which I created `dk` as a scripting tool. My…
2025 · diskuv.com · its alternatives →
- 17
A Lisp-style language whose programs consist entirely of parentheses. - cammckinnon/Parenthetic
2012 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 18MM
Sep 2026 · quadracollision.com · its alternatives →
- 19
2025 · turtleware.eu · its alternatives →
- 20IM
2013 · lispwebtales.ppenev.com · its alternatives →
- 21
An experimental minimal chat written in Common Lisp - ryukinix/lisp-chat
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 22
faster.js is a Babel plugin that compiles idiomatic Javascript to faster, micro-optimized Javascript. - vzhou842/faster.js
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 23
I spent the past 2 weeks making this toy programming language. I basically forked the Go scanner/parser, and changed the syntax to have functions return a single value. This enable proper Result/Option type to be used as well as propagating errors with an operator. I also wanted to have short "type inferred" anonymous functions to be able to use functions like Map/Reduce/Filter, without having to use 100 characters to specify the types.
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 24
Danfo.js▲109Open Source JavaScript library for manipulating data.
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →