kriskowal / chiron

Chiron
======

Chiron is a system of interoperable JavaScript modules.  Chiron modules 
conform to the "securable, interoperable JavaScript module
specification" [1].  Chiron also provides a compliant module loader for web 
browsers.  This project strives to provide a coherent set of general 
purpose modules for both client and server, and secure and non-secured 
environments.

These modules presently include:

 * a type system
 * base types
 * general-purpose functions
 * events
 * encoding, decoding
 * hashing
 * caching

Versions 0.2 and beyond are being developed here on Github.  The 0.1 
development train is in Subversion at Google Code [2].  


Usage
=====

Chiron modules can be used both on the client and server side.  Chiron 
ships with a browser-based XHR module loader.  ``modules.js`` is a script, 
suitable for inclusion on with a ``<script>`` tag in a web page.  The 
script will instantiate a module system in the page.  In the script tag, 
put the identifier of your main module in the query string::

    <script src="path/to/modules.js?main"></script>

If your module library is in an alternate location, you can supply a 
library path on the query string as well::

    <script src="/modules.js?path=/js/&main"></script>

Tools for bundling and minimizing modules for production are presently 
being recreated for this version of Chiron.

``modules.js`` leaves no trace of itself in the DOM or in the global scope 
(it does not add any properties to the ``window`` object, and removes its 
own ``<script>`` tag from the DOM.  Thus, Chiron is very kind to its 
neighbors, and most modules are designed deffensively and non-aggressively.


Installation
============

Chiron does not presently support installation, but there are plans to 
eventually integrate with Narwhal [3] and whatever package management 
system the Server-side JavaScript [4] "working group" ratifies. 


Legal
=======

Chiron is a component of the Tale web-game project.

All contributions are provided under permissive, non-viral licenses 
including MIT, BSD, Creative Commons Attribution 2.5, Public Domain, or 
unrestricted.


License
-------

Copyright (c) 2002-2009 Kris Kowal <http://cixar.com/~kris.kowal>
MIT License


MIT License
-----------

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.


Credits
=======


Active Contributions
--------------------

Kris Kowal <http://cixar.com/~kris.kowal/>

  `modules.js`, `boot.js`, `base.js`, `boost.js`, & al:
  integration,
  MIT License

Steve Levithan <http://stevenlevithan.com/>

  `regexp.js`, `format.js`, `modules.js`, `base.js`:
  regular expressions,
  MIT License


Community Contributions
-----------------------

Google Inc.

  `base.js`
  <http://code.google.com/p/doctype/>,
  good bits from the Doctype project,
  New BSD License

Mark James <http://www.famfamfam.com/>

  `icons/`:
  Silk icon set,
  Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

Ash Searle

  `printf.js`:
  "Unrestricted" License


References
==========

 _[1]: Securable, Interoperable Modules
    https://wiki.mozilla.org/ServerJS/Modules/SecurableModules
 _[2]: Chiron at Google Code
    http://code.google.com/p/chironjs/
 -[3]: Narwhal, a server side standard library for JavaScript
    http://github.com/tlrobinson/narwhal/tree/master
 -[4]: Server Side JavaScript Working Group
    https://wiki.mozilla.org/ServerJS