I’m looking for a new programming language to learn this year, and Gleam looks like the most fun. It’s an Elixir-like language that supports static typing.
I read the language tour, and it made sense to me, but I need to build something before I can judge a programming language well.
I’m sharing some notes on my first few hours using Gleam in case they’re helpful to others learning Gleam or to the team developing the language.
My project: Parsing old AIM logs 🔗︎
I used AOL Instant Messenger from about 1999 to 2007. For most of that time, I used AIM clients that logged my conversations, but they varied in formats. Most of the log formats are XML or HTML, which make re-reading those logs a pain.
The simplest AIM logs are the plaintext logs, which look like this:
Session Start (DumbAIMScreenName:Jane): Mon Sep 12 18:44:17 2005 [18:44] Jane: hi [18:55] Me: hey whats up Session Close (Jane): Mon Sep 12 18:56:02 2005
Every decade or so, I try writing a universal AIM log parser to get all of my old logs into a consistent, readable format. Unfortunately, I always get bored and give up partway through. My last attempt was seven years ago, when I tried doing it in Python 2.7.
Parsing logs is a great match for Gleam because some parts of the project are easy (e.g., parsing the plaintext logs), so I can do the easy parts while I get the hang of Gleam as a language and gradually build up to the harder log formats and adding a web frontend.
I’ve also heard that functional languages lend themselves especially well to parsing tasks, and I’ve never understood why, so it’s a good opportunity to learn.
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