library language features/extensions...

This is just a suggestion of a possible direction for coffee-script extension.

Make language extensions (like iced) live in a library instead of parallel forks/branches of the compiler.

benefits:

will make extending the language and experimenting simpler
will eventually make the core clean and more modular
let people experiment more with different ideas
keep the ecosystem united (people wanting to experiment will not move away from the upstream and most changes will make it upstream faster and in a cleaner manner)

the considerations that need to be made to make this worth while / convenient:

standardize a set of stable or official extensions that will be available by default
auto-install on first use (optional -- can be an extension in itself)
clear context rules (to avoid conflicts) -- I'd make this affect only the file containing the declaration
clear style/syntax guide-lines (to avoid conflicts)
clear syntax (IMO this has to be syntax), and I'd make it verbose-ish to be more noticeable by the person reading the code:

// beginning of file...
use CoffeeScript extension ICED

// user code...
...

maxtaco / coffee-script