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Written by ThatCoolCoder
I created spnr.js out of frustration with p5.js, especially with the vector system. Working with the vectors was easy enough, but saving them to JSON and reading them back was difficult - vectors would contain a pointer to the whole p5 instance, making them cyclic. To fix this, I created a project called sp5 on repl.it (now replit.com). While this project had many bad design decisions, in it I designed the vector system that is used in spnr.js. Once I had gotten the vector system working, I decided to start fresh and created a new repl called wrk.js. Over about a week, I set up an organisation system and moved all the vector code from sp5 across. Soon after, in early June 2020, I transferred the project to GitHub, where it has remained since.
After I had set up the vector system, I spent some time working on wrk.js only occasionally. New functions were added only when I had a need for them in a project. Despite not working intensively, this is when most of wrk's functions were added. In addition to adding runtime features, I also created a user reference and reorganised the project once or twice. Of course, many bugs were found and fixed during this time period.
At the end of October 2020, I started working on wrk.js a lot more. For the next two weeks I put my effort towards adding a simple game engine to wrk.js, in preperation for entering the One Button Jam 2020. Since then, most of my efforts have still gone towards improving the game engine, adding things like a better mouse detection system, making the said system work with touchscreens, and a lookup system. To make callbacks more manageable, I also created a function group class, allowing multiple functions to be called together.
At about this time I discovered that there was a HTTP benchmarking tool called wrk, and a JavaScript interface called wrk.js. However, I didn't do anything to fix this for a while. It was only when submitting a game made with itch.io that I decided I had to fix this naming conflict. The site asked me what tools I used to create the game, and I considered adding wrk, but I realised that it would create too much confusion if I added wrk to the itch.io tool list. At this point I halted development and waited until I thought up a new name.
In all honesty, the name wrk.js was inspired by Calbabreaker's library hlp.js. I had been trying to come up with a good name that was both short meaningful, and the idea of taking a four letter word and compressing it was perfect. I chose to shorten the word 'work' because the idea was that this library would do all of the difficult unpleasant work for you, allowing you to focus on programming your application, not utility functions.
After deciding it was time to change the name, I spent about two months thinking. There were three main criteria for the name: it had to be no more than 4 letters; it had to be easy to type; and it had to be a shortened version of a normal word. I decided to shorten the word 'spanner' because I could create a tool metaphor and it sounded nice.
This page is still a work in progress.