I tried Gleam for Advent of Code

Summary

I do Advent of Code every year.For the last seven years, including this one, I have managed to get all the stars. I do not say that to brag. I say it because it explains why I keep coming back.It is one of the few tech traditions I never get bored of, even after doing it for a long time. I like the time pressure. I like the community vibe. I like that every December I can pick one language and go all in.This year, I picked Gleam.A much shorter year#Advent of Code is usually 25 days. This year Eric decided to do 12 days instead.So instead of 50 parts, it was 24.That sounds like a relaxed year. It was not, but not in a bad way.The easier days were harder than the easy days in past years, but they were also really engaging and fun to work through. The hard days were hard, especially the last three, but they were still the good kind of hard. They were problems I actually wanted to wrestle with.It also changes the pacing in a funny way. In a normal year, by day 10 you have a pretty comfy toolbox. This year it felt like the puzzles were already demanding that toolbox while I was still building it.That turned out to be a perfect setup for learning a new language.Why Gleam felt like a good AoC language#Gleam is easy to like quickly.The syntax is clean. The compiler is helpful, and the error messages are super duper good. Rust good.Most importantly, the language strongly nudges you into a style that fits Advent of Code really well. Parse some text. Transform it a few times. Fold. Repeat.Also, pipes. Pipes everywhere. I love pipes.One thing I did not expect was how good the editor experience would be. The LSP worked much better than I expected. It basically worked perfectly the whole time. I used the Gleam extension for IntelliJ and it was great.https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/25254-gleam-languageI also just like FP.FP is not always easier, but it is often easier. When it clicks, you stop writing instructions and you start describing the solution.The first Gleam superpow...