alt Hacker NewsWhat's the Elm definition of simplicity? Genuinely asking, because the concept of simplicity is very vague and overloaded in programming.
Replies
One would be that there are no isolated components like `import BlackBox from 'lib'` + `<div><BlackBox /></div>`.
Instead, all UI components must be placed in the view/update tree with each component feeding back into the main update function.
It has some downsides like increased boilerplate and questions around how to do deep surgical rerenders, but it's a simple model.
I think Elm is a good example of how boilerplate helps you see how the important things happen in your own diffs instead of having everything abstracted into framework code.
Or rather, the thesis statement is probably that Elm gives you simple architecture (TEA) that includes state management.
The Elm Architecture[1] makes it easy to reason about code. You render the current state. You create a new state by applying a message to the current state.
1. https://guide.elm-lang.org/architecture/