Installing Elm

Since Elm is one of the technologies we are using to create our flashcard app we better start with installing it.

Installation

How Elm can be installed is described in their installation page. This includes setting up elm in a number of editors. Which certainly will come in handy.

What is missing do are some helpful tools. Most notably elm-test and elm-format. elm-test is used to test your Elm code, a practice that provide even more confidence in refactoring your code. elm-format automatically formats your code, so that no wars can erupt over where to place which comma.

You can learn how to install elm-test from their README. Similarly, how to install elm-format is described in their README as well.

Verification

If everything worked out as planned you should be able to execute the following commands

elm --version

This should respond with the latest version. At the time of writing that was 0.19.0.

Similarly, the following commands

elm-test --version

responds at the time of writing with 0.19.0-rev6.

Finally, verifying that elm-format is a little different. The command does not have a --version flag. Instead asking for --help

elm-format --help

Should declare it's version at the top of its help page. Again. At the time of this writing that was 0.8.1.

Celebrate

You are now all set for the next chapter. But before you go and explore the wonderful world of Elm, make sure you celebrate! Configuring your machine can be very hard.