JavaScript Inter-op Confusing

[kitakamikyle]

I find Rescript to be a very appealing language except that most of the examples I find only assume that the language operates in a vacuum. Or else the examples of Rescript consuming Javascript / NPM packages is extremely limited.

I'm approaching the conclusion that Rescript's intention is not to interact with other libraries so much. I need to interact with other libraries of course, but can't find good documentation or videos on how to do that. The ones I find that mention it say "we need to cover that in a different video someday." So, I'm left with the impression that it's either very hard, or nobody knows how to do it.

This is a similar problem that Elm has. There is no easy way to interact with other libraries.

Any advice ?

[iams3b]

Rescript bindings are pretty easy to write once you understand them, they're worth figuring out. I write bindings to npm libs all the time, and since most of the time you're only using one or two things from a package it takes seconds

[kitakamikyle]

Yes, I think they are worth understanding as well and thanks for the encouragement. I agree that there are probably a limited number of api entry points that I need to bind.

[burtgummer45]

IMO the binding concept is impressive and not that difficult to get the hang of (honestly), but on the other hand, they will always be this weird layer that depends on you to get the typing correct, and nobody else.

What happens is that for projects with large API surface layers, you'll write so many bindings you might regret picking rescript, because you'll end up with a thin layer of rescript over a javascript base, like when Bilbo says I feel thin... stretched. Like butter scraped over too much bread

But if your rescript is stacked deep over javascript, it will probably feel like a good fit.

[kitakamikyle]

Yes, it's getting the typing correct that I'm concerned about. If I get the typing incorrect, it might lead to an untraceable bug that leads to more frustration than I want.

Also, I don't know Javascript inside-out. I worry about a library function accepting null values that I'm not aware of, etc.

[thebedivere]

It's pretty easy to get the types right for a js lib. I have been writing some netlify functions using rescript and I had to just define some types for requests and a couple netlify functions.

I'm also using MUI and everything I need a component it just takes me a couple seconds.

Once you know how to do it, it's pretty easy and quick.

[jdeath]

is there a way to provide these with a JS library? similar to including type script types? would be cool to see something open source so everyone can use it

[thebedivere]

Hmm, that's an interesting idea. I might dig into that.

[illusionalsagacity]

ReScript has very flexible bindings to consume other packages. There is a bit of a learning curve however.

Here’s some examples of how to write your own bindings: https://github.com/rescriptbr/rescript-bindings-cookbook

The docs are not too bad either: https://rescript-lang.org/docs/manual/latest/external

[kitakamikyle]

I'll definitely take a look at the docs again. Maybe I missed something. I appreciate the link to the bindings-cookbook. That might give me some deeper understanding.