I Wrote A Frontend Framework Without Any Frontend Code

Photo by Goran Ivos on Unsplash

I like Go. I don’t like JavaScript. So I posed the question…

How could I write a reactive single page app without using the JavaScript or it’s ecosystem?

Here’s what I came up with:

package main
import "github.com/elliotchance/pepper"
type Counter struct {
    Number int
}
func (c *Counter) Render() (string, error) {
    return `
        Counter: {{ .Number }}<br/>
        <button @click="AddOne">+</button>
    `, nil
}
func (c *Counter) AddOne() {
    c.Number++
}
func main() {
    panic(pepper.StartServer(func() pepper.Component {
        return &Counter{}
    }))
}

That code encapsulates the entire stack. If you have Go installed, you can try it right now:

go get -u github.com/elliotchance/pepper/examples/ex01_counter
ex01_counter

Now open http://localhost:8080 in your browser… Or, just peek at this screenshot: