elm-package init

[rtorr]

enhancement request:

Knowing that one of the main goals of Elm is to make "getting started" as quick as javascript development, I thought this might be a great addition.

When writing front-end or back-end projects or modules with javascript, for the last few years I have been using NPM. Getting a basic project setup is as easy as npm init. It seems like this might be overthinking, but we get this same functionality once we install a package.

rtorr@~/git/elm-tmp> elm-package install evancz/elm-html 
To install evancz/elm-html I would like to add the following
dependency to elm-package.json:

    "evancz/elm-html": "4.0.1 <= v < 5.0.0"

May I add that to elm-package.json for you? (y/n) y

Some new packages are needed. Here is the upgrade plan.

  Install:
    elm-lang/core 2.1.0
    evancz/elm-html 4.0.1
    evancz/virtual-dom 2.0.0

Do you approve of this plan? (y/n) y
Downloading elm-lang/core
Downloading evancz/elm-html
Downloading evancz/virtual-dom
Packages configured successfully!

elm-package init would produce the same workflow as installing a package May I add that to elm-package.json for you? (y/n)

Maybe some more interesting defaults to elm-package.json would be great too. I might try a PR if interested.

It would be really rad if a new user only had to do elm-package init and get everything they need to compile their new program with a main and hello world.

[eeue56]

+1.

This would provide a similar use to things like yo generators. At the moment it's not too much of a hassle to get people to download a standard zip containing elm-package.json, Main.elm, index.html, but it would be a lot nicer if it was built straight into elm.

Filling out things like repository from git config --get remote.origin.url would also be very helpful.

This also ties into elm-lang/elm-make#23. Some of the suggestions in there would be more suited to being part of elm-package first and foremost, then called when hitting an error from elm-make. Point number 1 is a great example in there of this - there should be an elm-package init command so that the user doesn't have to run something they wouldn't expect to generate (elm-make) a skeleton in order to start a project.

[flip111]

good suggestion

@eeue56 i think the repo url thing is duplicated here #131

what would also be useful with an init command is to write a .gitignore file if none is present. By the way does anyone have a good template for gitignore in elm projects?

[eeue56]

I thought about the .gitignore. It would make more sense I think for a .gitignore for Elm to be added to Github's defaults, like every other language. The most common workflow that I see people use with Github is always

• Create a new repo
• Set the default README
• git clone the repo
• add .gitignore
• Write some basic structure for elm
• Run elm-make

This proposal makes it so that the workflow instead becomes

• Create a new repo
• set the default .gitignore + README as done with other languages
• git clone the repo
• elm-package init
• write some elm

[Apanatshka]

There are (I think multiple) PRs open to add an Elm.gitignore to GitHub's gitignores repository. Sadly there is very little activity around merging those PRs.

[eeue56]

There are, with github/gitignore#1440 being the first made, but I think github/gitignore#1610 is the most complete. According to the contribution docs, the only thing that that PR is missing is a link to an official source talking about a valid .gitignore for a standard Elm projects.

[evancz]

Having a good "get started" path makes sense. I do not think it would look exactly like this though. Some current ideas are to have an elm call with nothing ask if you want to get a project set up. Or to have elm reactor notice that you have no elm.json and offer to start a project for you. Things like that.

Point is, this is in consideration, but having this issue open should not change the time-to-completion.