5 posts tagged with "language"

With the Beta release (0.7), Wasp brings its IDE game to a whole new level!

So far Wasp didn’t have much beyond basic syntax highlighting in VSCode, but now it has:

1. Wasp language server, that brings the following to your .wasp files:
   1. live error reporting in your editor
   2. autocompletion (basic for now)
2. VSCode Wasp language extension:
   1. snippets (for page, query, action, entity)
   2. improved syntax highlighting for .wasp files
   3. integration with the above-mentioned language server
3. Support for popular IDEs to fully support Javascript and Typescript files in the Wasp project.

Haskell is a unique and beautiful language that is worth learning, if for nothing else, then just for the concepts it introduces and their potential to expand your view on programming.

I have been programming in Haskell on and off since 2011 and professionally for the past 2 years, building a compiler. While in that time Haskell has become much more beginner-friendly, I keep seeing beginners who are overwhelmed by numerous popular options for build tools, installers, introductory educational resources, and similar. Haskell’s homepage getting a call from the previous decade to give them their UX back :D also doesn’t help!

That is why I decided to write this opinionated and practical post that will tell you exactly how to get started with Haskell in 2022 in the most standard / common way. Instead of worrying about decisions that you are not equipped to make at the moment (e.g. “what is the best build tool?”), you can focus on enjoying learning Haskell :)!

I have been programming professionally for over a decade, using a variety of languages day-to-day including Ada, C, Java, Ruby, Elixir, and JavaScript. I’ve also tried some obscure ones, albeit less frequently and for different purposes: MIPS assembly language and OCaml for academic work (I’m a BS, MS, and PhD dropout in CS), and Zig for some side projects. In short, I like learning new languages (at least at a surface level) and have been exposed to different programming paradigms, including functional.

Yet, I have never done Haskell. I’ve wanted to learn it since my college days, but never got the time. In late 2021, though, my curiosity took over. I wanted to see for myself if the mystique and the Kool-Aid hype (or hate) around it are justified. :P So, I decided I’d start learning it on the side and also look for a company that uses it as my next gig. That’s how my Haskell journey started, and how I got into Wasp a few months later.

We are working on a config language / DSL for building web apps that integrates with React & Node.js. A number of times we've been asked “Why are you bothering creating a new language for web app development? Isn’t Github Copilot* soon going to be generating all the code for developers anyhow?”.

This is on our take on the situation and what we think things might look like in the future.