Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Gleam language available in first stable release

news
Mar 5, 20242 mins

Now available in v1.0.0, Gleam is a small, simple, opinionated, type-safe programming language that runs on the Erlang virtual machine and JavaScript runtimes.

shutterstock 1009002379 pulsar or neutron star in the nebula
Credit: Jurik Peter / Shutterstock

Gleam, a programming language designed to ease the development of type-safe, scalable systems, is now available in version 1.0.0, the language’s first stable release.

Compiling to Erlang or JavaScript, Gleam was created by London-based developer Louis Pilfold. Gleam 1.0.0 was announced March 4. Developers can try Gleam from the Gleam Language Tour page. Public APIs can be found in the main GitHub repository for Gleam, covering areas such as language design, compiler, build tool, and the package manager. There are 234 packages available for the language. 

In a post describing the language, Pilfold said Gleam has a small surface area that makes the language easy to learn in one afternoon. Gleam has static analysis and a type system inspired by languages such as Elm, OCaml, and Rust, Pilfold said. The compiler serves as a programming assistant, offering additional context to help developers make changes; Pilford described refactoring in Gleam as low-risk and low-stress. The language runs on the Erlang virtual machine and JavaScript runtimes, enabling Gleam code to run in the browser, mobile devices, or elsewhere.

Future plans for Gleam include improving the Gleam language server and providing libraries that users will want when making production systems in Gleam, with an initial focus on websites and web services. Goals include continuously improving the developer experience, maintaining simplicity, avoiding language bloat, and not introducing breaking changes. Pilford stressed that Gleam was a community project with a host of sponsors. The largest contributor is Fly.io, provider of the Fly micro-VM platform.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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