Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
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Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
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Re: Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
#2My question is, how will he feel about this three years from now? When he is trying to hire someone? Or when the folks behind Elm don't update it as often as they should?
The problem with unpopular languages is twofold:
* lack of talent that can step right in and be effective
* lack of resources to push the language forward
The first can be remediated by planning to bring new hires up to speed, and just making that investment in them. (It can also be a useful filter, making sure you are hiring someone who is really interested to the company and is willing to make the time investment to learn what is probaly not a very portable skill.)
The second is a bigger problem, if the main sponsor of the language moves on. If the main sponsor is committed, then you're probably fine. (I have no idea who pushes Elm forward, looks like there's a foundation from the wikipedia page.)
Re: Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
#3My question is, how will he feel about this three years from now? When he is trying to hire someone? Or when the folks behind Elm don't update it as often as they should? The problem with unpopular languages is twofold: * lack of talent that can step right in and be effective * lack of resources to push the language forward The first can be remediated by planning to bring new hires up to speed, and just making that i…
This is always a risk with new tools and techs. Thankfully there are sometimes enough early adopters to help keep the new thing in motion and improving.
Considering that a lot of code that gets written is thrown away or otherwise doesn't survive for years, a bit of risky experimentation isn't actually as risky as it seems.
Even though I'm one of the never-satisfied/always-seeking-newer-better group (and my list of used and discarded tools/languages is very long), I do sometimes wonder if we would be better off with fewer choices and more effort spent on the concepts and methods of software development rather than on the tools.
Re: Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
#4My question is, how will he feel about this three years from now? When he is trying to hire someone? Or when the folks behind Elm don't update it as often as they should? The problem with unpopular languages is twofold: * lack of talent that can step right in and be effective * lack of resources to push the language forward The first can be remediated by planning to bring new hires up to speed, and just making that i…
Main backer is the online learning service NoRedInk. The language's creator works there.
Re: Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
#5My question is, how will he feel about this three years from now? When he is trying to hire someone? Or when the folks behind Elm don't update it as often as they should? The problem with unpopular languages is twofold: * lack of talent that can step right in and be effective * lack of resources to push the language forward The first can be remediated by planning to bring new hires up to speed, and just making that i…
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Re: Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
#6My question is, how will he feel about this three years from now? When he is trying to hire someone? Or when the folks behind Elm don't update it as often as they should? The problem with unpopular languages is twofold: * lack of talent that can step right in and be effective * lack of resources to push the language forward The first can be remediated by planning to bring new hires up to speed, and just making that i…
Another risk is that the language hasn't reached 1.0 yet. Incompatible changes happen.
Re: Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
#7My question is, how will he feel about this three years from now? When he is trying to hire someone? Or when the folks behind Elm don't update it as often as they should? The problem with unpopular languages is twofold: * lack of talent that can step right in and be effective * lack of resources to push the language forward The first can be remediated by planning to bring new hires up to speed, and just making that i…
This is always a risk with new tools and techs. Thankfully there are sometimes enough early adopters to help keep the new thing in motion and improving. Considering that a lot of code that gets written is thrown away or otherwise doesn't survive for years, a bit of risky experimentation isn't actually as risky as it seems. Even though I'm one of the never-satisfied/always-seeking-newer-better group (and my list of us…
> This is always a risk with new tools and techs.
Absolutely. Whenever I see a new project, I look at business risk and technology risk. Either one is OK, but both are not. (I picked that up from someone, don't remember who).
I think that there's real value to being a Tom Bombadill (and really learning a language/framework/problem space deeply) as opposed to being a Gandalf. However, one fundamental issue is it's easier be a consultant and speaker if you are focused on the new shiny objects, and so much of what is written is from that perspective.
Re: Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
#8Queue the Alan Kay "programming is pop culture" quotes.
OP sees the world through a tribalistic lens.
And has an experience much like the extreme-leftist (those haskell snobs) turned Trump supporter (I've found my one true family! Forget the others!).
Re: Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
#9My question is, how will he feel about this three years from now? When he is trying to hire someone? Or when the folks behind Elm don't update it as often as they should? The problem with unpopular languages is twofold: * lack of talent that can step right in and be effective * lack of resources to push the language forward The first can be remediated by planning to bring new hires up to speed, and just making that i…
I'm a partner at Real Kinetic.
At Real Kinetic we've actually been internally using Elm for 2 years. While at Workiva, I OKed some internal projects to use Elm as well. Your observations are absolutely correct.
We have actually found on-boarding engineers to Elm is fast and relatively easy. There is a very predictable learning curve engineers seem to follow. That's one of the things we like about Elm versus some other solutions. The even bigger observation I've made is that all of the engineers we've exposed have become fans, like Alex.
The lack of resources and other companies contributing to the community and libraries is a challenge, and a concern. As an example, we use Elm Native UI for some projects. It has a limited user-base, which has at times been frustrating. We're hoping to see more adoption of Elm to help mitigate this problem.
Re: Elm changed my mind about unpopular languages
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