This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Enjoy!

Getting Started

Installation

Install Node.js 6.9.2 or higher
Add a plugin for your editor of choice: Atom, Sublime Text, VS Code, Light Table, Vim, Emacs, Brackets
Not required, but highly recommended: install elm-format and integrate it into your editor so that it runs on save. You want the one for Elm 0.18.
Run the following command to install everything else:

npm install -g elm elm-test elm-css elm-live@2.6.1

Note to macOS users: If step 4 gives you an EACCESS error, try this fix:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(npm config get prefix)/{lib/node_modules,bin,share}

Then re-run step 4.

Clone this repository

Run this at the terminal:

git clone https://github.com/rtfeldman/elm-workshop.git
cd elm-workshop

Note: Tab characters are syntax errors in Elm code, so if your editor uses them for indentation, definitely switch it to spaces for this workshop!

Create a GitHub Personal Access Token

We'll be using GitHub's Search API, and authenticated API access lets us experiment without worrying about the default rate limit. Since we'll only be accessing the Search API, these steps can be done either on your personal GitHub account or on a throwaway account created for this workshop; either way will work just as well.

Visit https://github.com/settings/tokens/new
Enter "Elm Workshop" under "Token description" and leave everything else blank.
Create the token and copy it into a new file called Auth.elm:

Auth.elm

module Auth exposing (token)


token =
    -- Your token should go here instead of this sample token:
    "abcdef1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12"

Note: Even for a token that has no permissions, good security habits are still important! Auth.elm is in .gitignore to avoid accidentally checking in an API secret, and you should delete this token when the workshop is over.

Verify Setup

Run this to install packages:

elm-package install --yes

Once that succeeds, run this to verify everything:

elm-live Main.elm --open --pushstate --output=elm.js

A browser should open, and you should see this in it:

If things aren't working, the instructor will be happy to help!

Start with Part 1