On Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 4:12:22 AM UTC-8, Mohammad Alshafey wrote: > > Is there sufficient material online for someone to learn Elm? It seems > that the examples available each use different libraries and functions and > each with some unique elements. There are no tutorials only basic > introductions. The core library documentations are very abstract and > lacking. Feeling stuck. I want to learn but there's nothing to go on! > I had just decided to try and learn something and I'm also foundering.
First: A lot -- I'm inclined to say "most" -- of the online learning material has been broken by the switch to version 1.7. "An Introduction to Elm" is only half there (the more useful half, where things are actually becoming graphical, is promised in "the next few weeks"....how many weeks exactly?). The online tutorial https://pragmaticstudio.com/elm has been removed. I have no doubt the move to subscriptions vs signals will be good in the long run but right now it is pretty painful right now. Second: Beyond this, even the existing docs are IMO too presumptive of prior knowledge. There are few/no line by line comments in "An Introduction to Elm", for one specific example. Doubtless that is because "everyone" already understands the line-by-line basics but, in fact, they don't. At least *I* don't. Suggestion: A single one page (52 line max but ideally less) graphical game MASSIVELY documented (I mean, don't let there be anything on the line which a reasonably intelligent sixth grader wouldn't already know go unremarked) would, I think, work wonders for Elm. Something as simple as a blob which could be moved in four directions on a screen to "eat" static "fruit" would work wonders. The working tetris (flatrus) game DOES work in 1.7 but it is way, way, way too complicated for tutorial purposes -- especially since if follows the practice of basically assuming people don't need line by line comments). With the most simplistic of graphical games MASSIVELY overdocumented a solid foundation of understanding and playing with Elm could be laid. A great follow on would be to step-by-step (over explaining every step) build on that base. For example, add a counter. Add reset buttons. Add movement to the fruit. Etc. I would love to participate in development / documentation of such a thing but I can't figure out how to get to the basic level of understanding of what is going on. FYI I have only the most basic level of "basic" programming skill. I don't know javascript (and don't want to learn) nor HTML nor how to design a webpage. I am, therefore, a perfect candidate for a student. My motivation for wanting a really, really, really easy on-ramp to Elm? (1) Of the functional languages Elm is, or could be, the most approachable and "playable" (2) I would like to teach Em to 6th graders as an on-ramp to functional programming and, then, to functional thinking. These kinds of simplistic and "obvious" games existed once upon a time; that is how I learned to write BASIC programs a long time ago. Can Elm bring that simplicity back? Looking at some of the short code examples I believe so. But the documentation still is very, very poor unless you are already pretty much up to speed on what is going on. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Elm Discuss" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to elm-discuss+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
