whorl is just a bit of code to play with when i'm bored. It's like a mini version of the core bits of Twisted, but in JavaScript.

It has 2 ideas about what it wants to be when it grows up. It would like to be part of the GNOME desktop, helping users write asynchronous code with a simple almost synchronous coding style.

var print_contents = Defer.async( function (file) {
    var in_stream = yield file.read ();
    var bytes = yield in_stream.read (4096);
    while (bytes) {
        print (bytes);
        bytes = yield in_stream.read (4096);
    }
});

It would also like to be part of the wave of JavaScript on the server - it would like to grow up to be like its big brother, Twisted.

var handle_POST = Defer.async( function () {
    try {
        var page = yield WebClient.getPage ("http://www.google.com/search?q=turnips");
    } catch (e if e instanceof HTTP404) {
        print ("Error callbacks in async code even get mapped to exceptions :D");
    }

    do_stuff_to_page (page);

    Defer.returnValue (page);
});

Of course, it works the same for both use cases and the difference is just the integration wrappers built on top of the respective client and server side frameworks...