BlockLike.js is an educational JavaScript library. It bridges the gap between block-based and text-based programming.

BlockLike.js is designed following Scratch concepts, methods and patterns. The screen is a centered stage. Interaction is with Sprites. Code is executed in a "paced" manner. Scratch block code and BlockLike.js text code are meant to be as literally similar as possible.

BlockLike.js is written in ES6/ES7 flavored JavaScript. It is environment independent. It can be used anywhere modern JavaScript runs.

See BlockLike.org for details, docs, examples and FAQ.

The easiest way to start with BlockLike.js is using CodePen or replit. Alternatively, you can create an index.html file and include BlockLike.js with the script tag.

The website has a one-click setup for CodePen and instructions how to set up replit and how to load the most recent version off of a CDN.

Make sure to have Node.js installed.

Clone the repo.

In a terminal:

npm install
npm start

npm run watch

listen EADDRINUSE 127.0.0.1:9000

Something else is using that port.

Open webpack.config.js and change the port setting for the devServer.

All:

npm run test

Single test:

TEST=stage_looks npm run test:it

npm run build

The build script will build the two library versions (normal and min), generate the third one (mascotless) and republish the docs.

For most cases.

npm version patch

For more festive occasions:

npm version minor

Generally speaking, patch a version any time there is a change in the minified distribution, even if the change is not the result of a code change but only of build tools.

Running version will trigger the version script and will create a tagged commit.

git push origin master
git push --tags  

Pushing tags will trigger a GitHub Workflow and will publish the version to the NPM registry

npm run docs

Note that building the library will also build the docs.

Ron Ilan

MIT