Channels – the Nextflow podcast
In episode 47 of The Nextflow Podcast, Phil Ewels and Ben Sherman discuss the launch of the new Nextflow language server, a significant upgrade providing advanced code intelligence features such as code completion and error hints for VS Code users. They detail the benefits of formalizing Nextflow as its own programming language, reducing reliance on Groovy, and improving error messages and code clarity. They also cover new documentation, plans for future features like type annotations, and encourage community feedback and adoption. Find the new docs here: https://www.nextflow.io/docs/latest/vscode.html 00:00 Podcast Ep 47 - Version 2 - VSCode Extension 00:09 Welcome and introductions 00:44 Podcast rebranding 01:29 Nextflow Summit announcements 02:48 Language server background 06:27 Nextflow as a programming language 09:58 Building a language server 14:12 VS Code interactions with the language server 15:22 VS Code demo 15:50 Errors + warnings tray 17:10 Errors: Level 0 20:00 Errors: Level 1 22:32 Errors: Level 2 23:02 To def or not to def 24:46 Variable references 25:34 Number of arguments 25:57 Hover hints on workflows and processes 26:19 Code navigation 26:52 Output hints 27:17 Code peeks 27:56 Getting help 28:29 Code formatting 30:25 Nextflow schema params 32:03 Future warnings 34:02 Preview DAG 34:54 Fixing new syntax errors 35:42 Config files 37:07 Updating the plugin 37:33 Roadmap: Type checking 38:55 Conclusion