Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 18:48): Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 18:48):so I was thinking about how it would be cool to have a useful, usable, open-source project for how to web apps in Roc (similar to what we now have for wasm4!) and it occurred to me that it would be cool to build a discussion web app in Roc that we could use for longer-form discussions instead of something off-the-shelf like Discourse
Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 18:49):then it would not only be useful (we'd be using it!) but also it could be a reference for what a complete, working, usable Roc web app looks like
Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 18:49):this in turn got me thinking about a really interesting idea that Evan (who made Elm) talked about at this point in this talk
Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 18:50):it's worth watching that part of the talk (and also the whole talk!) but the basic idea is to have a discussion application that's more intentional about intent
Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 18:51):e.g. "I'm posting this because I want to learn something" vs "I'm posting this because I want to discuss an idea" vs "I'm posting this because I want to get feedback about something I made" vs. "I'm posting this because I want to express myself"
Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 18:52):and then responses could also be similarly explicitly structured, e.g. "I want to ask for clarification on your question" vs. "I have an answer to your question"
Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 18:53):with the overall goal being that these guideposts could help minimize common downsides that come up in online discussions that don't seem to come up in other types of discussions (e.g. flame wars, misreading someone's intended tone, etc.)
Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 18:53):I've never seen anyone try this before, and it seems like an idea worth trying!
Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 18:53):I'm curious what others think of the idea
Isaac Van Doren (Feb 12 2024 at 19:49):Whether or not this is the app, I think it would be awesome to have an open source, real world web app written in Roc for reference!
Isaac Van Doren (Feb 12 2024 at 19:50):I watched that talk some time ago so I’m a bit fuzzy on the details but will have to rewatch it
Luke Boswell (Feb 12 2024 at 19:56):I've been refactoring my htmx demo/experiment to use the new sqlite3 capability, and separate code into modules rather than a single file. It's early days, but so far it feels awesome to work with. Not sure this would be the way the discussion app is built, but I dont see any reasons why not. Basically, I think it's really achievable to do this in Roc today, and would be a good example.
Johan Lövgren (Feb 12 2024 at 20:13):I remember being really inspired after watching that talk and thinking that it would be really great to build something like that. So yeah sounds like a great idea
Richard Feldman (Feb 12 2024 at 20:45):is anyone here interested in working on building it out? Maybe we could start a channel about it, do a video chat to discuss design and implementation strategy!
Luke Boswell (Feb 12 2024 at 23:48):Regarding the first goal of having a real world web app as an example, I'm hoping my efforts with the todo app can help. I've got plans in mind for a larger web app I want to make for SYCL/Italy that would also be useful example. Basically an app for taking/sharing notes on food and wine. I thought I might be able to group progress into a couple more articles along the way to share with the community.
Luke Boswell (Feb 12 2024 at 23:53):Re the discussion app, I feel like there's some nice ideas to explore. I feel like there is a lot to explore here. I'm keen to help and contribute where I can.
Would the intent be for this to replace zulip oneday?
Richard Feldman (Feb 13 2024 at 13:12):Luke Boswell said:
Regarding the first goal of having a real world web app as an example, I'm hoping my efforts with the todo app can help. I've got plans in mind for a larger web app I want to make for SYCL/Italy that would also be useful example. Basically an app for taking/sharing notes on food and wine. I thought I might be able to group progress into a couple more articles along the way to share with the community.
oh nice, that sounds amazing!!! :star_struck:
Richard Feldman (Feb 13 2024 at 13:13):Luke Boswell said:
Would the intent be for this to replace zulip oneday?
no, more of a long-form discussion alternative to it
Hannes (Feb 14 2024 at 11:32):I was always very impressed with the Nim forum which is written in Nim and works as a showcase of the Nim language, so this sounds like a great idea! :+1:
Johannes Maas (Feb 14 2024 at 18:51):This struck me as relevant to the app concept: https://kottke.org/24/02/virtual-stickers-to-manage-replies-by
Just stumbled over this connection and wanted to share. (No reply necessary. ;P )
Last updated: Jun 16 2026 at 16:19 UTC