Show HN: Darklang

Re:Show HN: Darklang by tiborsaas on Monday September 16, 2019 @01:17PM (#20986338)

I applaud the effort for the project because it's really ambitious. The delivery at this point on the other hand makes me a bit skeptical. I've watched the hello world app a few times and my impression is that it relies on lots of convention over configuration (same reason I disliked Rails). The "cards" or files on the canvas look a bit chaotic and their relations are not clear at all what thing triggers which event. The slackToken thing is confusing too.

Have you tried user testing the platform with random developers, giving them a laptop with the instruction, "Here you go, this is the readme, getting started guide, go build a todo app"?

I'd like to see a more detailed look of the language itself with a slower pace of explanation.

Just by watching the video, Dark feels like I'm interacting with a cloud backend rather than building stuff in a programming language.

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Re:Show HN: Darklang by pbiggar on Monday September 16, 2019 @01:29PM (#20986481)

We have user tested, and a ton of people have built full apps with it. That said, you are correct that it can be a rough experience at times, which is one of the reasons we're in private beta.

We wanted to show people what we were working on, warts and all. We are super aware of what you're bringing up. The "cards" especially are not the metaphor we intend to use, just a shortcut to get this in front of people. I hope you'll bear with us :)

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Re:Show HN: Darklang by breck on Monday September 16, 2019 @04:54PM (#20988500)

I love the "cards", or at least, the step in that direction.

Just like Apple Numbers, it seems to point to a future paradigm of software development IDE experiences. Something a lot more freeform, flowy, than a traditional file/tabs UI. Some files are 2k lines long, some are 10 lines long; some are text, some are data; it's time we stop cramming everything into the same square file editing box. I think there is room for a lot of innovation here in the UX of developer tools.

Was very excited to see that.

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Re:Show HN: Darklang by chasefoto on Monday September 16, 2019 @02:34PM (#20987141)

I've been using the private beta for several months now. It took a few hours to get the hang of it, and once the language clicks, the speed of development moves quick.

I'm sure the Dark team will be releasing more in depth videos soon with a look into the language soon!

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