Strange files in elm-stuff

Hi, I am learning ELM and reading some books, with the version 0.18, and not working some command like a elm-make, elm-reactor, well in the example the book just for compile show like this:
“elm-make main.elm” and not working, the console show me something like this “first elem init”,
and yes working, and run the command “elm reactor” all working well, but the outpout the files is strange because in the book show me files like this:
“elm-stuff/build-artifacts” and another files

and check my files don’t show me the same out, just this:

“elm-stuff/o.data” and another .dat files and lock file

  • what is .dat files inside the elm-stuff ?
  • the output the elm-stuff is correct ?

I working with Version 0.19.1, my SO ubuntu 18 lts
thanks for your attention.

You need to read a book covering Elm 0.19. There are quite few changes, for the better, in Elm 0.19.

These are changes from 0.18 to 0.19. This means the book you are working with is outdated. You could now either continue working with the book and

  • replace elm-make with elm make and so on
  • don’t worry about elm-stuff looking different
  • ask again if you get into any new problem (we’ll gladly help)

or you could read a 0.19 book instead, for example Beginning Elm by Pawan Poudel.

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The output of a compilation in Elm is usually the elm.js (or whatever name you give after --output=). This has always been the case. elm-stuff is just some compilation cache that the compiler uses and it can be safely ignored by users. It used to be the case that we needed to delete that folder (the data inside would sometimes get corrupted) but I don’t remember doing this in the past few years (outside of testing alpha/beta versions of the compiler).

There we some changes between 0.18 and 0.19 but they were not all that significant for people just starting (most of the stuff that was removed was quite advanced). You should be able to use the book you have. Just keep a tab open with Upgrading to 0.19 Instructions and consult it when something doesn’t work. Also, don’t hesitate to ask questions on Slack or here. The Elm community is quite friendly to beginners.

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On a side note, we should advise to not call the file elm.js, as it leads to problems for people using windows.

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