# Jolt

A Clojure interpreter running on [Janet](https://janet-lang.org). Jolt reads Clojure source, evaluates it with an interpreter written in pure Janet, and ships a Clojure-compatible standard library. The goal is a Janet-hosted [SCI](https://github.com/borkdude/sci) runtime — a minimal bootstrap that loads SCI's Clojure source as its standard library.

## Build

```bash
git clone https://github.com/yogthos/jolt.git
cd jolt
git submodule update --init   # pulls vendor/sci
jpm build                     # compiles build/jolt
```

Requires Janet ≥ 1.36 and `jpm`.

## Run

```
build/jolt                 # start a REPL
build/jolt file.clj [args] # run a file (binds *command-line-args* and *file*)
build/jolt -e EXPR [args]  # evaluate EXPR and print the result
build/jolt -h              # help
```

The REPL accumulates multi-line forms until they balance:

```
user=> (defn fib [n] (if (< n 2) n (+ (fib (- n 1)) (fib (- n 2)))))
#'user/fib
user=> (map fib (range 10))
(0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34)
```

Running a file evaluates its top-level forms:

```
$ echo '(println "hello" (* 6 7))' > hello.clj
$ build/jolt hello.clj
hello 42
```

## Use as a library

```janet
(use jolt/api)

(def ctx (init))
(eval-string ctx "(+ 1 2)")            # → 3
(eval-string ctx "(map inc [1 2 3])")  # → [2 3 4]
```

`(init)` returns a context with `clojure.core` loaded. Each context is isolated; use separate contexts for separate environments.

## Host interop

Jolt exposes CLJS-style host interop through `.` on any Janet table or struct — a field holding a function is called with the receiver as the first argument:

```clojure
(def obj {:greet (fn [self name] (str "Hello " name))})
(. obj greet "Alice")   ; → "Hello Alice"
(.-greet obj)           ; field access (reader sugar for (. obj :greet))
```

Janet's standard library is reachable through `jolt.interop` (and the `jolt.shell` / `jolt.http` helpers built on it):

```clojure
(require '[jolt.interop :as j])
(j/janet-type [1 2])              ; → :tuple
(j/janet-table-keys {:a 1 :b 2})  ; → [:b :a]
```

## Differences from Clojure

Jolt targets Clojure semantics but runs on Janet, not the JVM. The notable divergences:

- **Host platform.** No JVM and no Java interop — `import`, `gen-class`, `proxy` of Java classes, and `java.*` are unavailable. `instance?` recognizes a small set of built-in types (`clojure.lang.Atom`, `Number`, `String`, …).
- **Numbers.** Janet integers and doubles only — no bignums, ratios, or `BigDecimal`. `(/ 1 3)` is `0.3333…`, large products lose precision, and there are no auto-promoting `+'`/`*'`. `quot`/`rem`/`mod` follow Clojure's sign rules. `bigint`, `rational?`, and `class` are not provided.
- **Collections.** By default Jolt uses immutable persistent data structures: vectors are 32-way branching tries (structural-sharing persistent vectors with O(log₃₂ n) `conj`/`assoc`/`nth`), lists are immutable, and maps/sets are persistent hash structures. Value equality and sequence operations are Clojure-compatible, but hash-map/hash-set iteration order is unspecified and differs from Clojure — use `sorted-map`/`sorted-set` when order matters.
- **Mutable build mode.** Jolt can be compiled to use fast Janet-native *mutable* collections instead, via a build-time flag: `JOLT_MUTABLE=1 jpm build` (default `jpm build` is immutable). In mutable mode vectors and lists share one mutable array representation (so `conj` mutates in place and appends, and `vector?`/`list?` no longer distinguish them) — a performance/looseness trade-off. The default immutable build has full Clojure value semantics.
- **Concurrency / STM.** Single-threaded. No refs, `dosync`, agents, or `send`; `locking` evaluates its body without real locking. Atoms, volatiles, and delays are supported.
- **Regex.** Compiled to Janet's PEG engine (Janet has no regex). Supported: capturing groups (`[whole g1 …]`), greedy and lazy quantifiers with backtracking, `(?:…)`, lookahead `(?=…)`/`(?!…)`, alternation, anchors `^ $ \b \B`, character classes, and the `(?i)` flag. Not supported: lookbehind, backreferences (`\1`), and named groups (`(?<name>…)`).
- **Not implemented.** Transients (`transient`/`persistent!`), JVM reflection, and `proxy`. (`reify` and `extend-protocol` work for Jolt protocols.)

Supported and Clojure-compatible: chars as a distinct type, lazy/infinite sequences, transducers, destructuring, multimethods with hierarchies, protocols/records, metadata, namespaces, and the reader (`#()`, `#_`, `#?`, tagged literals, `#"…"`).

## Test

```
jpm test                       # full test suite
janet test/conformance.janet   # Clojure-conformance battery
```

## License

[Eclipse Public License 1.0](https://opensource.org/licenses/EPL-1.0)