# Table of Contents
* [About](#about)
* [Use](#use)
* [NPM](#npm)
* [Browser](#browser)
* [API](#api)
* [Contribute](#contribute)
* [License](#license)
* [Links](#links)
# About
Ion-JS is a JavaScript library for [Ion](https://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/) -- this is currently alpha software and is subject to change. The library allows for reading/writing Ion
data from within JavaScript code.
For more information on Ion have a look at the [Ion Specification](https://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/spec.html) as well as some of the other Ion language specific libraries such as
* [Ion C](https://github.com/amzn/ion-c)
* [Ion Java](https://github.com/amzn/ion-java)
* [Ion Python](https://github.com/amzn/ion-python)
# Use
You can use ion-js either as a Node.js module or inside an html page.
## NPM
1. Add `ion-js` to your dependencies using `npm`
```
npm install --save-dev ion-js
```
1. Use the library to read/write ion data. Here is an example that reads Ion data from a JavaScript string
```javascript
var ionJs = require("ion-js")
var ionData = "{ hello: \"Ion\" }";
var ionReader = ionJs.makeReader(ionData);
ionReader.next();
ionReader.stepIn();
ionReader.next();
var hello = ionReader.fieldName();
var ion = ionReader.stringValue();
ionReader.stepOut();
console.log(ion.concat(", ").concat(hello));
```
[Try it yourself](https://npm.runkit.com/ion-js).
## Browser
You can include the Ion-js bundle (ES5 compatible) using the URLs
* [ion-bundle.min.js](https://amzn.github.io/ion-js/browser/scripts/ion-bundle.min.js)
* [ion-bundle.js](https://amzn.github.io/ion-js/browser/scripts/ion-bundle.js)
These will create and initialize `window.ion` which has the exact API as our `npm` package. Here is an example
```html
```
## API
[Ion JS API](https://amzn.github.io/ion-js/api/)
# Contribute
[CONTRIBUTE.md](CONTRIBUTE.md)
# License
[Apache License 2.0](LICENSE)
# Links
* [Ion](https://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/)
* [Ion Specification](https://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/spec.html)
* [Ion Cookbook](https://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/cookbook.html) uses the Java library for its examples.
* [Ion C](https://github.com/amzn/ion-c)
* [Ion Java](https://github.com/amzn/ion-java)
* [Ion Python](https://github.com/amzn/ion-python)