
Elm – “Designing to infantilize a target audience is how we got Java” - HappyAndHarmles
https://github.com/elm-lang/elm-compiler/issues/621#issuecomment-221053554
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extrospect
...and then in the very next breath:

    
    
      JavaScript dev's who are 
      interested in Elm, are the 
      cream of the crop imho and 
      good engineers will step 
      upto the plate when 
      challenged.
    

Ha ha! Okay, buddy! So long, and thanks for all the fish!

(cringe)

~~~
alanfranzoni
Yes, that's an incredibly bold statement. Javascript today is probably the
most popular language in the world (according to Github; other indices tell a
different story), and that gives it the very same role that at once was
fulfilled by Java or even PHP: it's probably the first language a newcomer
will learn programming with, hence you'll find a lot of unskilled engineers as
well as some experts.

So, saying that Javascript devs, just because they're interested in Elm, are
"the cream of the crop"... sounds ludicrous.

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relics443
Good for him. Let's compare the 2 languages in 20 years, and see how the
language for the infantilized target audience is doing. I'm fairly certain Elm
won't even be a footnote in history.

~~~
pritambaral
To be fair, many items in history got popular being ... err, for the
infantile; some primarily because of it. But I don't think popularity is one
of Elm's goals.

I use what I use because it works for me, and not because it's the fashionable
trend; similarly, I think while Java has its place, I'll use Elm when it works
for me. And not being dumbed down certainly serves some functions.

------
taneq
Whereas taking something old but reliable and throwing whiz-bang new footguns
at it is how we got C++. Don't get me wrong, it's still one of my favourite
languages, but damn if sometimes it isn't like an alligator with a bunch of
broken glass glued to it.

~~~
pritambaral
To be fair to the context here, neither is:

1\. JavaScript reliable like C, nor

2\. Elm an addition of "whiz-bang new footguns" to JavaScript.

