talwrii_plugin-repl/questions.md

Isn't this just reimplementing the Obsidian plugin API badly?

Yes, but it is reimplementing a subset that is most useful for rapid (if ugly) development so that you can get things done.

You can create hacky features in Plugin REPL far faster than with plugins. You can also debug a lot faster since you don't have to reload Obsidian.

What are plugins useful for that Plugin REPL is not?

Plugins are easier to share. Plugins have their own namespaces and you are guaranteed to not create bugs due to name collissions. Plugins let you use typescript to catch errors and make using modules easier.

Wouldn't it be better to have classes for the functions?

No, the idea here is to make discoverability as easy as possible. The hope is that the core set of functions needed for rapid prototyping is small enough that they can be handled in a single namespace and the ease of discovery makes up for the lack of organizations. This approach works well in emacs. "Shallow" development with a moderately fixed interface has different trade offs to "normal" programming.

What does going from a Plugin REPL "plugin" to a normal Obsidian Plugin look like

This is a model for how to go from Plugin REPL scripts to a full plugins:

1. You start off doing a task mostly manually.
2. At some stage tasks related to it start becoming so annoying or time-consuming that they interfere with what you are doing, or you just want to play a little.
3. In the olden days, at this stage you would have to "roll up your sleaves" and make a plugin - which would possibly never happen.
4. Instead, you can just hack up a couple of commands with plugin REPL
5. Over time you add more and more commands and lay out a workflow.
6. At some stage you might start wanting to organize your code more - then you can use the source command

Eventually, you might want to share what you are doing so someone can use it. This is one of the points when switching over to a traditoinal plugin might make sense. You can mostly just copy and paste your functions into a new plugin. An issue here is that you may be using convenience functions that are not present in the plugin. However, plugin repl is open source so you can either copy and paste those function, or maybe better, look at their implementation to use the Obsidian API.

Alternatively, you might start having enough code that you want a type system to hold your hand. At this point you might find it easier to switch over to a Plugin and typescript. Although you can still build and compile code and require it with Plugiun REPL.

Or, you might start wanting to use lots of JavaScript libraries. At which point it might make more sense to switch over to a plugin.

What is the difference between Plugin REPL and dataview and Templater?

In a sense all computers do is "proccess data". The input to process taek different forms. Some forms of input are more general - like JavaScript code, some forms are far more specific - like some checkboxes in a settings tab. Dataview, Templater and Plugin REPL all allow the execution of arbitrary Javascript and give you some access to bits of the Obsidian Plugin API.

Dataview and Templater have both been "stretched" to do interesting things. Dataview is nominally a query language for your pages - but people have added Javascript to it; it has access to an app object; and it has the ability to render arbitrary JavaScript. Templater was initially intended do templating, but there is a "start up template" that does not render and people use templates to run code.

The difference between these three is how the code is run and what is made easy. Plugin REPL is good if you just want to run some code now, once. It is good if you want to define commands and bind them to keys. It is good if you want to debug and adapt code. It is good if you want to do straight forward things in the editor. Dataview is good if you want some code in a page that renders something as part of the page itself. Templater is good if you want templates.

How can you use Plugin Repl to develop plugins

When I'm developing a plugin, I tend to work on a single function (and the functions needed for this function in Obsidian). I get the function working with Plugin REPL, and once it is done I will move into a plugin, fix up the code and reload Obsidian.