Hi everyone! So, I just finished a major rewrite of my template engine library, Squirrelly (the new version can be found here).

Features include:

• Super fast parsing times
• Plugins
• Filters
• Filter parameters
• Native code
• Comments
• Nice syntax
• Configurable whitespace trimming
• About 2.5 KB Gzipped, 6 KB minified
• Custom Delimeters
• Caching
• Doesn't require ES6

Code examples:

Sqrl.Render("my favorite template engine is {{it.fav}}", {fav: "Squirrelly"})
// my favorite template engine is Squirrelly

Items: {{it.items | join (", ") | capitalize}}

var eachTemplate = `The Daugherty's have 8 kids. Their names are:
{{~each (it.kids) => val, index}}
{{~if(index < it.kids.length - 1_}}
  {{val}},
{{_#else_}}
  and {{val}}
{{_/if}}
{{_/each}}`

var res = Render(eachTemplate, { kids: ['Ben', 'Polly', 'Joel', 'Phronsie', 'Davie'] })
// The Daugherty's have 8 kids. Their names are:

// Ben,
// Polly,
// Joel,
// Phronsie,
// and Davie

{{~try}}
This won't work: {{ error }}
{{#catch => err}}
Uh-oh, error! Message was '{{err.message}}'
{{/try}}

Now, for the question parts of this post:

1. First of all, I decided to go with doT-styled references to reference data (but without the =): {{it.someValue}}. This means that I allow what doT calls 'evaluate syntax' (just sticking in native code) like this: {{!whatever}}.

   • My question is whether I should switch, so you would reference variables like {{=it.name}} or {{=someLocallyDefinedVariable}} and use {{ whatever }} for evaluate syntax. The main convenience of this would be that comments would look nicer (ex. {{/comment/}} instead of {{!/comment/}}.

2. My other question is about publishing. Should I publish as squirrelly-next on NPM, or publish it as version 8 of Squirrelly, or choose another name (like Gopher?)

   • Squirrelly has a bit of name recognition (220 stars on GitHub, 90 dependent packages) but is kind of hard to spell. I also don't want to break all the tutorials about how to use it