The Developer's Guide to HCL, Part 5: Conclusion

Recap HCL's strengths for IaC. Get official links to documentation for HCL, Terraform, Packer, Nomad, and Vault to continue your learning journey.

Sebastian Stadil

• 2 min read

HCL, as the language powering tools like Terraform, has fundamentally changed how infrastructure is provisioned and managed. Its human-readable, declarative syntax, combined with a rich ecosystem, provides a powerful framework for Infrastructure as Code.

Part 1 covered the basics, Part 2 the syntax, Part 3 common issues, and Part 4 best practices.

Recap of HCL's Strengths

HashiCorp Configuration Language offers distinct advantages for defining infrastructure:

  • Readability and Simplicity: HCL is designed to be easily understood and written by humans, making infrastructure configurations more accessible.
  • Declarative Nature: By defining the desired state, users can focus on what infrastructure they need, not the imperative steps to create it, simplifying complex deployments.
  • Modularity and Reusability: Constructs like modules, variables, and locals promote DRY principles and allow for the creation of reusable infrastructure components.
  • Ecosystem Integration: As the native language for Terraform, Packer, Vault, and Nomad, HCL benefits from strong tooling, extensive provider support, and a large, active community.
  • Structured and Extensible: The block-and-argument structure, along with support for expressions and functions, allows for well-defined and dynamic configurations.

While challenges and learning curves exist, particularly around concepts like state management and choosing appropriate iteration constructs (count vs. for_each), the benefits of using HCL for IaC are substantial.

The world of IaC and cloud technologies is constantly evolving. Developers working with HCL should embrace continuous learning:

  • Stay Updated: Follow releases and updates for HCL itself and the tools that use it (especially Terraform and its providers).
  • Explore Provider Documentation: Cloud provider documentation for Terraform resources is invaluable for understanding specific arguments and behaviors.
  • Engage with the Community: Platforms like the r/Terraform subreddit, HashiCorp forums, and Stack Overflow are excellent resources for asking questions, sharing solutions, and learning from the experiences of others. Many of the common issues and best practices discussed in this guide have been highlighted and refined through such community interactions.

Official Documentation and Repositories

For authoritative information and deeper dives, the following official resources are recommended:

By leveraging these resources and applying the best practices outlined in this guide, developers can effectively use HCL to build robust, maintainable, and scalable infrastructure.