> there's no reason that a configuration language can't have first-rate tooling!
Perhaps I shouldn't have made it about the configuration language's maturity. What I mean is that however mature it is, it's still yet another thing. At least from what I've been seeing lately, fewer tools > better tools.
Suppose that on first run you generate a config file like this:
from configtypes import Strategy
def strategy() -> Strategy:
return Strategies.balanced
And then the user maybe changes it to
from datetime import datetime
from configtypes import Strategy
def strategy() -> Strategy:
# be aggressive on Tuesdays
if datetime.today().weekday() == 2:
return Strategy.aggressive
return Strategy.balanced
But actually it's `Strategy.assertive` not `Strategy.aggressive`, so this is an invalid configuration. I'm sure you
can set up an editing experience for the user which gives them a red squiggly when they try to reference a nonexistent value, or which gives them an error that indicates a line number when they try to use it. But those are things you want for your dev environment anyway, right?
And maybe the user is curious: "how is this used?". There are editor actions like "go to definition" or "find references" which they can use to find more information. Those will be interrupted if the language is different.
I just feel like whatever time you might spend on integrating the configuration language is going to be better spent on docs, error messages, or making it easy to summon a well-configured editor environment (which is the same both for devs or config authors).
---
I've experienced what you're describing with nix. It's magical. I haven't toyed with Guix yet, but I want to eventually write helix plugins (it uses a scheme for its plugin language, or it will...), so maybe I'll give Guix a try when I get to that "learn scheme" item on my todo list.
For now I'm focused on how to help users who aren't accustomed to navigating a project with files in more than one language (scientists mostly), and I just don't think the juice is worth the squeeze re: creating more than one world, one for them and one for "proper" devs. Maybe maybe I'm overlooking the use case of large non-user-serviceable things because I wish things in general were smaller and more user-serviceable.