NonElm

NonElm is a hypothetical programming language described in discussions of frontend web development alternatives to Elm. In this fictional proposal, nonElm emphasizes a strong static type system, immutability by default, and a declarative approach to building user interfaces. The language compiles to JavaScript and is designed to interoperate with existing web toolchains while preserving functional programming principles.

Design goals include safety and predictability, with a developer experience aimed at reducing runtime errors. nonElm adopts an MVU-like architecture inspired by Elm, where applications consist of a Model representing state, a set of Messages describing events, and an Update function that produces a new model and optional effects. Views are pure functions that render the UI from the model, and effects such as HTTP requests or interop are modeled as commands executed by a runtime.

Type system features include algebraic data types, pattern matching, and local type inference. The module system supports large codebases, and the standard library provides utilities for JSON encoding/decoding, HTTP, and interop bindings to JavaScript. The compiler emphasizes incremental builds and helpful diagnostics, while tooling includes a package manager, a test framework, and a formatter.

Adoption in this hypothetical setting is limited to teaching, research, and exploratory projects. Proponents point to readability, maintainability, and formal guarantees; critics note a small ecosystem, conceptual learning curve around MVU, and questions about interoperability with existing JavaScript libraries.

See also: Elm, MVU architecture, PureScript, functional programming.