
Writing code that writes code with Hack Codegen - ctice
https://code.facebook.com/posts/1624644147776541
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nerdy
I would really love to use Hack, but I want to use it in the editor of my
choice, not the editor of Facebook's choice.

Because Hack isn't PHP all of the foundations are gone, consider this text
from the JetBrains PhpStorm team:

"We’d have to provide full support for a complete new language, which entails
implementing a parser, type checker, navigation, completion, inspections, and
so on. No part of PHP support that we have now can be reused for Hack, given
the fundamental differences between the languages. We’d then have to maintain
and enhance it, closely following the evolution of Hacklang."

Until those important issues are resolved, it's unlikely many people will be
using these tools. Facebook should, pretty please, consider outsourcing the
things in the list above (parser, type checker, inspections anyhow).
Unfortunately I can't justify pigeonholing my editor selection for Hack
development. Anxiously awaiting some form of resolution.

[1] [http://blog.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/2015/06/hack-language-
sup...](http://blog.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/2015/06/hack-language-support-in-
phpstorm-postponed/)

~~~
michaelmior
This all depends on how much support you like to have from your editor.
Personally I'm usually happy with just syntax highlighting, which is already
covered for me[0]. That said, I haven't had the occasion to really make use of
Hack.

[0] [https://github.com/hhvm/vim-hack](https://github.com/hhvm/vim-hack)

------
Gladdyu
Considering that had the opportunity to completely customize Hack but stayed
rather close to PHP, does anyone else find it weird that they are already
trying to move on from the Hack semantics by auto-generating the code?

Wouldn't it have been more effective and easier to debug to put those features
in the Hack language (which is a pretty recent invention as languages are
concerned) itself without resorting to external tools?

