Bringing Xmas joy to coders in milliseconds.
We really love Advent of Code, because, well, who doesn’t enjoy solving programming puzzles in the lead-up to the holidays? Except for the first challenge, in which everyone has to set up a new project, with Git, an editor, a test framework, a runner… the usual boring set-up.
Alfie is our latest experiment, proposing a new way to write JavaScript. It’s a more immediate, feedback-driven coding experience, focused on small problems (for now), and we believe it’s the next step towards computers actively helping you to code.
Alfie tells you everything that happens in your code, without you having to ask. You’ll see a trace of all the values throughout, allowing you to experiment with your implementations in a much more iterative manner. It’s faster than your testing framework (yes, even if your testing framework is console.log), way more fun than opening a debugger, and gets you all of the benefits of a REPL, except you also get to save your work.
Because why shouldn’t JavaScript development be as simple as firing up a REPL all the time?
We’re planning on improving Alfie every day between here and Christmas, so be on the lookout for new features, tweaks, and experiments. We know that the best ideas come from people using products in the real world, so make sure you tell us all about them on our Feedback page. We’d love to make it a permanent part of your toolbox.
Try Alfie today, and tell us what you think. And when Advent of Code starts, hopefully it’ll give you a leg up on the competition. 😉
