2 ms·

Maybe it's improved, but I was very disappointed to find agents constantly tripping over significant white space with Elm (Claude Code). Always struck me as str

by rapind 3mo ago

Maybe it's improved, but I was very disappointed to find agents constantly tripping over significant white space with Elm (Claude Code). Always struck me as strange since they are very proficient with python... and Elm has been one of the most stable modern languages (so stable that people complain about it never changing!). I think the last time I tried was a year ago though, so I assume it has improved.

auslegung 3mo ago
I started working with Elm in production again about a year ago and have bounced back and forth between codex and Claude code and haven’t noticed whitespace problems, so I would conclude it’s better but of course your mileage may vary
- rapind 3mo ago
  I was already working with elm (have been since Signals) and I was very disappointed in what agents (CC) produced. In contrast, I was pleased with the Rust code they produced.
rupertlssmith 3mo ago
LLMs are way past that, Claude Code can very competently write Elm code now, for example.
- rapind 3mo ago
  Good to know. I built https://github.com/pairshaped/hypertea https://github.com/pairshaped/hypertea to get some of Elm's safety in typescript while being easy for LLMs to use (this is basically just hyperapp in TS, with added elm-like guardrails). Maybe I'll go back to Elm now that LLMs are handling it better.
rgoulter 3mo ago
> I think the last time I tried was a year ago though, so I assume it has improved. I noticed that coding agents seemed to get pretty good around 2025 Oct/Nov. If it's improved? My experience with Nickel-lang (probably as not-in-training-data as Elm) is coding agents have improved with this compared to last time I tried.
3836293648 3mo ago
I don't think anyone complained about the language changing, it was a lack of trust in the language due to the compiler not getting any updates. You can still improve the compiler without having to change the language.
- rupertlssmith 3mo ago
  Yes. But that is about to change, and the compiler is now getting the updates it needs. Mostly the compiler was fine, we could do with some bug fixes in core packages - not many, but there are a small number of long time bugs that should really be sorted.

by rapind 3mo ago

auslegung 3mo ago

I started working with Elm in production again about a year ago and have bounced back and forth between codex and Claude code and haven’t noticed whitespace problems, so I would conclude it’s better but of course your mileage may vary

rapind 3mo ago
I was already working with elm (have been since Signals) and I was very disappointed in what agents (CC) produced. In contrast, I was pleased with the Rust code they produced.

rupertlssmith 3mo ago

LLMs are way past that, Claude Code can very competently write Elm code now, for example.

rapind 3mo ago
Good to know. I built https://github.com/pairshaped/hypertea https://github.com/pairshaped/hypertea to get some of Elm's safety in typescript while being easy for LLMs to use (this is basically just hyperapp in TS, with added elm-like guardrails). Maybe I'll go back to Elm now that LLMs are handling it better.

rgoulter 3mo ago

> I think the last time I tried was a year ago though, so I assume it has improved. I noticed that coding agents seemed to get pretty good around 2025 Oct/Nov. If it's improved? My experience with Nickel-lang (probably as not-in-training-data as Elm) is coding agents have improved with this compared to last time I tried.

3836293648 3mo ago

I don't think anyone complained about the language changing, it was a lack of trust in the language due to the compiler not getting any updates. You can still improve the compiler without having to change the language.

rupertlssmith 3mo ago
Yes. But that is about to change, and the compiler is now getting the updates it needs. Mostly the compiler was fine, we could do with some bug fixes in core packages - not many, but there are a small number of long time bugs that should really be sorted.