Evan Czaplicki created Elm as a programming language for interactive web applications.
Czaplicki introduced Elm in 2012 as a language focused on making browser user interfaces easier to build. Elm is functional, statically typed, and compiles to JavaScript, allowing its applications to run in web browsers.
Elm became known for its architecture, which organizes applications around models, views, and updates. The compiler also reports type errors in deliberately readable messages, helping developers correct problems before runtime.
Elm is sometimes confused with TypeScript because both compile to JavaScript, but they have different designs. Elm uses immutable data and controlled effects, while TypeScript adds static typing to JavaScript. Elm's package ecosystem and compiler aim for long-term stability, including strong guarantees around semantic versioning.