php.ts

php.ts is deno static site generator with a development workflow similar to PHP, but with typesafe JSX and all the tooling that comes with deno and javascript ecosystem.

$(
  <div style={{ background: "#222", color: "#fff" }}>
    <p>hello there</p>
    <a href="other.tsx?category=test">other page</a>
  </div>
);
console.log("<div>this will also be part of the html output</div>");
console.log(`<p>query parameter value of x: ${$.request.data.x}</p>`);

Development workflow

The development process is very similar to the goodbad ole days of early PHP sites:

start dev server: $ php.ts dev
create a page (example.tsx)
view in browser (http://localhost:3000/example.tsx)
edit page
refresh page in browser
goto 3 if not yet done
generate html files: $ php.ts build
push html files to repository or server

But why?

If you are someone who has strong allergic reactions to anything related to JS or PHP, you might think this is a troll or joke project. You are not too far off actually. You ask me a “but why”, I give you a “what if”. I set out on a flaming trainwreck of a journey with a question mind: what if I could do PHP-like development but with a modern tooling and libraries of typescript.

I scratched a technical itch, now I’m sharing my mild skin irritation with random people AHA ha Ah HA. More seriously, despite my initial intention, I do believe php.ts did turn out to be quite useable for actual projects, for me at least.

Setup and Installation

$ mkdir your-site-name; cd your-site-name
$ deno run https://deno.land/x/php.ts init Alternatively, you can just manually download php.ts, chmod +x it, then run ./php init
$ ./php --help to see help contents

Then take a quick glance on the documentation.