xkcdparse

xkcdparse

xv internal library to destruct an xkcd comic JSON data and transform into nice plain text or HTML strings.

How it works

xkcdparse has "destructors" API which are actually functions that takes xkcd comic JSON data. The following example will explain it better.

Suppose there's xkcd #927 JSON:

import xkcdparse from '#/somewhere/xkcdparse';

// (multiline for readability)
const comic = {
  "num": 927,
  "title": "Standards",
  "alt": `Fortunately, the charging one has been solved now that we've
    all standardized on mini-USB. Or is it micro-USB? Shit.`,
  "transcript": `
    HOW STANDARDS PROLIFERATE(See: A\nC chargers, character encodings,
    instant messaging, etc.)\n\nSITUATION:↵There are 14 competing
    standards.\n\nGeek: 14?! Ridiculous! We need to develop one
    universal standard that covers everyone's use cases.\nFellow Geek:
    Yeah!\n\nSoon:\nSITUATION:\nThere are 15 competing standards.\n\n
    {{Title text: Fortunately, the charging one has been solved now
    that we've all standardized on mini-USB. Or is it micro-USB?
    Shit.}}`,
    // ...rest props
}

const a = xkcdparse.title(comic); // -> title destructor:
//
// Standards

const b = xkcdparse.alt(comic); // -> alt destructor:
//
// (multiline for readability)
// “Fortunately, the charging one has been solved now that we've all
// standardized on mini-USB. Or is it micro-USB? Shit.“

const c = xkcdparse.date(comic); // ->  date destructor:
//
// Saturday, August 20, 2011

const d = xkcdparse.transcript(comic); // -> transcript destructor:
//
// (multiline for readability)
// HOW STANDARDS PROLIFERATE
// <br /><br/>
// (See: A
// <br /><br />
// C chargers, character encodings, instant messaging, etc.)
// <br /><br />
// SITUATION:
// <br /><br />
// There are 14 competing standards.
// <br /><br />
// Geek: 14?! Ridiculous! We need to develop one universal standard
// that covers everyone's use cases.
// <br /><br />
// Fellow Geek: Yeah!
// <br /><br />
// Soon:
// <br /><br />
// SITUATION:
// <br /><br />There are 15 competing standards.

Syntax rules

I've realized that there are simple syntax rules used in comic title, alt and transcript properties.

There are some tokens:

• {{ hidden text }}, used in transcript, actually a copy of alt property
• [[ cursive text ]], used for current comic frame description
• (( cursive text also )), same, but for more extra-context description
• <<bold text>>
• *bold also*
• _underline text_

Typography rules:

• \n breaks paragraphs
• -- means em dash
• - is em dash also, but only when surrounded by spaces
• ... is ellipsis
• " is quote mark

There are some extra rules also:

• Tokes cannot be nested. That is, there could not be something like [[ hello *bold* world ]]. Note: this makes parsing WAY easier and I don't need to actually parse it into AST
• There are should not be double paragraph breaks, as well as leading or trailing paragraph breaks. Same for spaces
• Literal < and > should be replaced by escape entities < and >.