2025-11-12 13:59:37 +01:00

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To The Stars with Datastar

An interstellar journey


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Drake Formular

$$ {1|2|3|4|5|6|7|all} \begin{aligned} N &= R_* \cdot f_p \cdot n_e \cdot f_l \cdot f_i \cdot f_c \cdot L \ R_* &= \text{rate of star formation} \ f_p &= \text{fraction of stars with planets} \ n_e &= \text{number of habitable planets per star} \ f_l &= \text{fraction where life develops} \ f_i &= \text{fraction where intelligent life evolves} \ f_c &= \text{fraction that develops detectable technology} \ L &= \text{length of time civilizations are detectable} \end{aligned}



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<h2 v-click class="absolute top-4 left-1/2 -translate-x-1/2">The "Drake" Formular of Webtechnologies</h2>

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$$ {1|all}
\begin{aligned}
N_w &= D_b \cdot L_b \cdot F_b \cdot P_t \cdot F_f \cdot S_m \cdot C_{ss} \cdot C_l \cdot H_p  \\
\\
N_w &= \text{Total Possible Tech Stacks} \\
D_b &= \text{databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL...)} \\
L_b &= \text{backend languages (Javascript, Python, Go...)} \\
F_b &= \text{backend frameworks (Express, Django, FastAPI...)} \\
P_t &= \text{transport protocols (REST, GraphQL, gRPC...)} \\
F_f &= \text{frontend frameworks (React, Vue, Svelte...)} \\
S_m &= \text{state management (Redux, Zustand, Pinia...)} \\
C_{ss} &= \text{CSS frameworks (Tailwind, UnoCSS, Bootstrap...)} \\
C_l &= \text{component libraries (shadcn, MUI, Ant Design...)} \\
H_p &= \text{hosting platforms (Vercel, AWS, VPS...)} \\
\end{aligned}
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The Space of Webtechnologies

 
\begin{aligned}
N_w &= ( D_b ,  L_b , F_b , P_t , F_f , S_m , C_{ss} , C_l , H_p )  \\
\\
\end{aligned}
  • Every website or web application is one star in this space.
  • There are many combinations that work well. While others no so much.
  • We all plot our path in this space. And have our current home there.
  • There are clusters in this space, i.e. the React-Cluster, oder Angular or Vue.
  • My current home is in the L-O-B with Go and Vue vicinity.
  • There is an old Cluster called Hypermedia. Where all Webapps once lived.
  • Hypermedia has developed a new bulge called HTMX.
  • Next to it is a new tiny blob, called Datastar.

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My name is

Thomas Hedeler

A holistic developer


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How did I find Datastar? What is my motivation?

Finding my combination of web technologies for a minimal viable web application.

v
  • Part 1: The Database: SQLite
  • Part 2: The No-ORM ORM - A very simple Data Abstraction Layer.
  • Part 3: Developing a Web Server Application in Go.
  • Part 4: Datastar - a lightweight framework for real-time collaborative web apps.
  • Part 5: Modern HTML and modern CSS.
  • Part 6: Web components.
  • Part 7: Simple Deployments with a VPS, Nginx, Certbot and a single binary file.

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Part 1: SQLite:

It is fast, feature complete* and rock solid.

It is not SQ-Lite, it is SQL-ite

Since everybody knows SQLite, today just a few highlights:

  • It has JSON and JSONB as built-in data types.
  • It has 29 new functions to extract from JSON or to create JSON objects.
  • It's CTEs make SQL Turing complete.
  • The SQLite CLI can be used to execute "SQL-scripts". See demo.

* It lacks features essential for a client-server environment, primarily multi-user concurrent write access, built-in security and user management, and some advanced data types.

* from my pov and for my needs and purposes
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Part 2: A very simple Data Abstraction Layer:

Features:

  • Simplified Database Lifecycle Management.
  • A 'Record' Data Type for Generic Data Handling.
  • High-Level CRUD Operations.
  • Fluent Transaction API.
  • Abstraction and Safety.
  • Utility Functions.
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Part 3: Developing a Web Server Application in Go.

Why Go?

  • Go is a compiled language that generates native machine code.
  • Go's core strength is its built-in, lightweight concurrency model using goroutines and channels.
  • Go has a small, well-defined specification and a deliberately simple syntax.
  • The standard library is comprehensive, especially for web development.
  • Go compiles into a single, static binary with no external dependencies.
  • Go is simple, just 25 reserved words in the language.
  • Can embed the database engine (modernc/sqlite)
  • Can serve static code from embeded folders and files.
  • Can embed other resources, like sql files or template files.
  • Has a built-in templating engine.

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Part 4: Datastar

Build reactive web apps that stand the test of time

Datastar is a lightweight framework for building everything from simple sites to real-time collaborative web apps.

Quote Gillian Delany: 

The problem is Datastar is actually a backend agnostic backend framework with a 10 Kb shim. There has never been anything like it in practice. So it is hard to explain.


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Term-Soup:

ADR, core+plugins, Signals, Ideomorph, Core-Engine, Plug-ins, SSE, You have to control the backend, Templating, HTMX, Hypermedia, Hateoas, Locality of behaviour, Declarative vs. Imperative, DS conforms strictly to the web's specs.

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Reducing the Network to a Function Call

{
    const { data, error } = await to(fetch("https://api.example.com/api/board"));
    if (error) {
      // handle error
      return;
    }
    // handle data
}
{
    const { data, error } = await to(fetch("https://api.example.com/api/users/12"));
    if (error) {
      // handle error
      return;
    }
    // handle data
}

// the function that "unwraps" the promise:
export function to(promise: Promise<Response>) {
  return promise
    .then((response) => response.json())
    .then((data) => ({ data, error: null }))
    .catch((error) => ({ data: null, error }));
}


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HTTP - Protocol

POST https://api.example.com/api/users/search?page=2&limit=10 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9
Cookie: sessionId=abc123; theme=dark
Content-Length: 89
{
body: data for the search request
}

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SSE - Server-Sent Events

GET https://api.example.com/api/events/stream HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Accept: text/event-stream
Cache-Control: no-cache
Connection: keep-alive
Response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/event-stream
Cache-Control: no-cache
Connection: keep-alive
event: message
data: {"user": "Alice", "action": "joined"}
event: update
data: {"count": 42}
data: Multi-line
data: message example

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HTTP Communication

sequenceDiagram
    participant Browser
    participant Backend
    
    Note over Browser,Backend: Traditional HTTP (Polling)
    Browser->>Backend: GET /api/data
    Backend-->>Browser: Response with data
    Note over Browser: Wait...
    Browser->>Backend: GET /api/data
    Backend-->>Browser: Response with data
    Note over Browser: Wait...
    Browser->>Backend: GET /api/data
    Backend-->>Browser: Response with data

::right::

SSE Communication

sequenceDiagram
    participant Browser
    participant Backend
    
    Note over Browser,Backend: Server-Sent Events (SSE)
    Browser->>Backend: GET /api/events (Accept: text/event-stream)
    Backend-->>Browser: 200 OK (Connection open)
    Note over Backend,Browser: Connection stays open
    Backend-->>Browser: event: updatedata: {...}
    Backend-->>Browser: event: updatedata: {...}
    Backend-->>Browser: event: updatedata: {...}
    Note over Browser,Backend: Real-time updates without new requests

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graph TD
    Start([Client Starts]) --> GetProducts[GET /products]
    
    GetProducts --> ProductResp["Response: Product List<br/>links:<br/>add-to-cart: /cart/items<br/>self: /products"]
    
    ProductResp --> AddCart[POST /cart/items]
    
    AddCart --> CartResp["Response: Cart Updated<br/>links:<br/>self: /cart<br/>update-item: /cart/items/id<br/>remove-item: /cart/items/id<br/>checkout: /checkout"]
    
    CartResp --> Decision1{Client Action}
    Decision1 -->|Continue Shopping| GetProducts
    Decision1 -->|Proceed| Checkout[POST /checkout]
    
    Checkout --> CheckoutResp["Response: Checkout Session<br/>links:<br/>payment: /payment<br/>cancel: /cart"]

    

::right::

graph TD
    CheckoutResp["Response: Checkout Session<br/>links:<br/>payment: /payment<br/>cancel: /cart"] --> Payment[POST /payment]
    
    Payment --> PaymentResp["Response: Payment Success<br/>links:<br/>order: /orders/id<br/>track: /orders/id/tracking<br/>invoice: /orders/id/invoice"]
    
    PaymentResp --> GetOrder[GET /orders/id]
    
    GetOrder --> OrderState{Order State}
    
    OrderState -->|Pending| PendingResp["Response: Order Pending<br/>links:<br/>self: /orders/id<br/>cancel: /orders/id/cancel<br/>track: /orders/id/tracking"]
    
    OrderState -->|Shipped| ShippedResp["Response: Order Shipped<br/>links:<br/>self: /orders/id<br/>track: /orders/id/tracking<br/>return: /orders/id/return"]
    
    OrderState -->|Delivered| DeliveredResp["Response: Order Delivered<br/>links:<br/>self: /orders/id<br/>return: /orders/id/return<br/>review: /orders/id/review"]
    
    PendingResp --> End([Workflow Complete])
    ShippedResp --> End
    DeliveredResp --> End

    

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Learn Some Templating System:

Concept Example Meaning
Interpolation {{ name }} Insert value of name
Loop {% for item in items %}...{% endfor %} Repeat block for each item
Condition {% if logged_in %}Welcome{% endif %} Conditional rendering
Include {% include 'header.html' %} Reuse a subtemplate
Escaping {{{ raw_html }}} or {{& raw_html}} Control HTML escaping

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Templating and Hypermedia:

Templating Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State
Input Data Data + available transitions
Output Document (HTML) Document representing a state with actions
Function Bind data to structure Bind state transitions to structure
Goal Present information Drive navigation and state evolution
Mechanism Placeholder substitution Link/form embedding
Example {{.Title}} → “Article” <a href="{{.Links.Edit}}">Edit</a>

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to be continued ...