maybe fork() is a good analogy?

[samuelgoto]

I'm wondering if fork() is a good analogy of what you are trying to accomplish:

if (fork()) {
  // executes in the parent
} else {
  // executes in the child
  // communicates with the parent through pipes
}

• it is part of the language
• code inside the same source file executes on a different process
• memory isn't shared (although copies are made, but if you mutate the parent won't see)
• pipes are used to exchange message between parent and child
• it can either run to completion or while (true)

Interestingly, though:

• it is not new syntax

Surprisingly, though:

• people kinda of understand how it works :)

Exactly how that translates to javascript is unclear, but here are a few ideas along these lines:

if (fork()) {
  // code runs in a worker and doesn't share memory
}

or maybe

fork() {
   // maybe this looks different/weird enough that would give the right
  // signal of what's going on?
}

or maybe

new Worker() {
  // ...
}

Here is what it could look like in locu:

<button onclick="fork() { localStorage.write('expansive!') }">write</button>

maybe this is too much to ask and hard to make the distinction, but hey, at least there is "some" precedence :)

[j-f1]

How about fork { ... }, which would act like do { ... } except it would return a Promise for a structured-clone version of the result?