You Should Try Elm

An introductory talk about the Elm programming language and its virtues.

Transcript

1. You Should Try Elm Nathan Feaver Exchange JS March 2nd, 2017
3. What is Elm? • Elm is a programming language which compiles into JavaScript • You can use it while creating any client side application • Similar, in a way, to CoffeeScript • It’s really great! • http://elm-lang.org/ .elm .js
4. Why Should I Try Elm?
5. Why Should I Develop Software?
6. Why Should I Develop Software?
7. Why Should I Develop Software? 1) Move in the same direction as your neighbours 2) Remain close to your neighbours 3) Avoid collisions with your neighbours
8. Why Should I Develop Software? Simple Building Blocks → Useful Behaviour
9. Why Should I Develop Software? Simple Building Blocks → Useful Behaviour • Easy
10. Why Should I Develop Software? Simple Building Blocks → Useful Behaviour • Easy • Impact
11. Why Should I Develop Software? Simple Building Blocks → Useful Behaviour • Easy • Impact • Legacy
12. Why Should I Develop Software? Simple Building Blocks → Useful Behaviour • Easy • Impact • Legacy • Personal Satisfaction
13. Why Doesn’t Everyone Develop Software? Simple Building Blocks → Useful Behaviour • Easy • Impact • Legacy • Personal Satisfaction • Hard • Failure
14. Why Doesn’t Everyone Develop Software? Simple Building Blocks → Useful Behaviour • Easy • Impact • Legacy • Personal Satisfaction • Hard • Failure
15. Why Doesn’t Everyone Develop Software? Simple Building Blocks → Useful Behaviour • Easy • Impact • Legacy • Personal Satisfaction • Hard • Failure
16. Why Should You Try Elm? • Community • Beginner Friendly Environment (the compiler talks!!) • No runtime exceptions!! • Works in small doses • Different style – it’s good for you
17. Community – Evan (BDFL)
18. Community – Evan (BDFL)
19. Community • https://elmlang.slack.com • Small but growing rapidly • Passionate
20. Beginner Friendly Environment * Example by Richard Feldman - https://youtu.be/3FNKaGm3gk0
21. Beginner Friendly Environment * Example by Richard Feldman - https://youtu.be/3FNKaGm3gk0
22. No Runtime Exceptions • Problems are caught by the compiler before runtime • Type checking – by inference and by declared types • Pure functions and immutable data (everything is simple)
23. Works in Small Doses • JavaScript Interoperability • Embed an Elm application into a single html element • Embed JavaScript driven components (like a datepicker or selectize input) in Elm* *This looks like it can get kind of hairy unless the JavaScript component is mostly autonomous
24. Different Style
25. Good Resources • Evan introducing the language: https://youtu.be/oYk8CKH7OhE • The Elm Architecture (and the whole guide): https://guide.elm-lang.org/architecture/ • Introductory talk where I got the examples from: https://youtu.be/3FNKaGm3gk0 • Intermediate Talk About Types – Making Impossible States Impossible: https://youtu.be/IcgmSRJHu_8 • Slack: http://elmlang.herokuapp.com/ to get an invite • Exercism: http://exercism.io/languages/elm/about
26. Questions? github.com/jfeaver/talks
27. What might prevent you from using Elm in production? • Availability of libraries • Difficulty implementing alongside entrenched JavaScript • The ceremony involved in strict functional programming • Complexity increases over the short term ... Start small
28. Up for an example? nathanfeaver.com/meditation github.com/jfeaver/meditation (source code)