gleam-lang/gleam

Formatter: Replace = symbols by : symbols where syntactically correct

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#2,979 opened on Apr 12, 2024

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help wanted

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Description

I'm learning Gleam, and sometimes it's hard to remember to use = or : in some cases, especially for record expressions.

pub fn new(name: String) {
  Thing(
    name = name, // should have `:`
  )
}

A nice thing that elm-format does for Elm files, is to transform = to : (and the reverse) where appropriate. This is a time-saver and very nice for beginners. For instance, I have several times taught Elm to beginners, and when they would use the incorrect symbol, then save, the symbol would be fixed without them even noticing (or seeing an error message).

I don't know in how many places this kind of change could be applied, I think it could at least be done reliably in record expressions, maybe as well in type annotations.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Examine the Gleam formatter code to identify where '=' is used in record expressions and type annotations, then implement logic to replace with ':' when syntactically correct, referencing elm format's approach.
Tech stack
rust
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
GleamRust
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
70