CoffeeScript on Windows?

Question

How can I try CoffeeScript on Windows?

The installation instructions are only for *nix: http://jashkenas.github.com/coffee-script/#installation

EDIT:

I don't think I need node.js -- I am just writing javascript for web pages, (using some jQuery, etc)...So all I really want is simple way to write CoffeeScript and "compile" it down to JavaScript. Isn't there a Ruby program that would do it? Or even better, a windows exe? (i dont use ASP.NET either...i use Python/Django)

FINAL EDIT: Thanks for the help -- In the end I installed VirtualBox and created a virtual Linux machine which I now use to program coffeescript with node.js. (It was surprisingly easy to start using VirtualBox -- easier than doing the Cygwin thing). I run jEdit (for which you can get a CoffeeScript syntax highlighter) and I put the corresponding js file side-by-side with the coffeescript file. When I compile the coffeescript to js, the editor automatically re-loads the new javascript, which allows me to check that it has compiled the way I expect (which is a good thing while learning the coffeescript syntax).

Answer 1

Hi Nick. Node.js runs on Cygwin these days, so that's probably your best bet with getting CoffeeScript running on Windows. I'd try that first.

If you have a different preferred JavaScript runtime, you can probably use the prebuilt-compiler (extras/coffee-script.js). For example, if you include that script on a webpage, you can call

CoffeeScript.compile(code);

... to get back the compiled JavaScript string.

Answer 2

If you want to use CoffeeScript in an Asp.NET application then you can use this Http Handler to serve compiled CoffeeScript.

Answer 3

You can use a command-line version of CoffeeScript by installing Ruby on Windows and then installing the CoffeeScript Gem

After that, the command-line is available eg 'coffee bla.coffee' - to compile your CoffeeScript down to javascript.

The only disadvantage doing it this way (not using nodejs) is that the Ruby version of CoffeeScript is restricted to version 0.3.2 - the last version written in Ruby before it was moved over to nodejs.

However, I still use the Ruby version of CoffeeScript in my current employment and my personal web page and I don't see much of a problem as this version of CoffeeScript is quite mature and most of the features listed on the CoffeeScript website can be used.

Answer 4

The easiest way to build JavaScript files from CoffeeScript files is to use XCoffeeScript, a simple windows tool that requires no complicated installs: http://bit.ly/9wplmE

To compile one file do:

XCoffeeScript --file yourfile.coffee

(you'll get yourfile.js)

To compile a lot of files at once in a directory do:

XCoffeeScript --dir yourdir

Answer 5

You could also use jcoffeescript as a command-line solution.

It uses a java-based javascript engine - (the same one used by Firefox) and wraps up the task of compiling the coffee-script.js file produced by the coffeescript project. This allows it to run the coffee-script compiler as a java program.

The command line I use (on Windows) looks like this:

type | foo.coffee java -jar jcoffeescript-0.9.2.jar > foo.js

You will need to download & build the Java source code (use IntelliJ Community Edition to avoid downloading ANT as well perhaps?).

I now use jcoffeescript in place of the Ruby solution (another answer here), because this allows me to keep up with the latest coffeescript project version.

Answer 6

This solution works well.

Answer 7

You can look at this article, where I described how to compile coffee-scripts by Node.js, and Cygpath on Windows without virtual machines.