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People kept saying the same kind of things when I started using Ruby (2004) then Rails (2005/2006) rather than C#/Java which I had been using previously for a l

People kept saying the same kind of things when I started using Ruby (2004) then Rails (2005/2006) rather than C#/Java which I had been using previously for a living. I'm glad I didn't listen to them at that time, since I've been earning most of my income due to this "gut choice" for the last 10 years. I looked at Erlang a while back but passed (didn't "click" for me), yet I'm now learning Elixir (which totally "clicks") to complement Ruby in polyglot apps. I can safely state that I'll very soon use Elixir in production (ETL first, then web/API). A very useful skill to have if you do consulting on the long run (like I do) is being able to evaluate what to invest in and what to pass on. My own evaluation is that Elixir is going to work very, very well on the long run. Just another opinion :-)

vezzy-fnord 11y ago
I looked at Erlang a while back but passed (didn't "click" for me), yet I'm now learning Elixir (which totally "clicks") to complement Ruby in polyglot apps. Sounds like you didn't really invest much time in the former, or that post-hoc experience made it easier for you to understand, but you instead flocked over to Elixir.
- thibaut_barrere 11y ago
  I spent roughly the same time evaluating Erlang and Elixir, fwiw, but didn't do it at the same time (hence not at the same level of experience, either). I certainly consider that Elixir will lead me to love Erlang, but with a reduced initial friction (like CoffeeScript did for me with JavaScript, which I'm now confortable with).
- seiji 11y ago
  The only real way to learn Erlang is to spend 3 months reading the documentation from start to finish multiple times (not each API doc, just the guides), failing to figure out why your program won't compile, fixing that missing comma or extra semicolon, screaming, then finally, one day, it will all click. Along the way, you'll also learn by experience why to never implement your own "process" but always use gen_servers (hint: multiple code reloads blow processes away). There is no easy path to Erlang. When you learn a new programming language, what you are doing is creating an implementation of that programming language in your brain (including a tokenizer, parser, and interpreter). The reason people go EWWW at Erlang is they don't want to struggle to implement a new tokenizer and parser in their brains. They just want to learn one tokenizer and syntax forever then pretend that's all they ever need, all while basking in the superiority of their ignorance.
  - angersock 11y ago
    You've hit on a great point here: learning a programming language requires you to be able to interpret it in your head if you want to be really productive on it. I think that that bears repeating.

vezzy-fnord 11y ago

I looked at Erlang a while back but passed (didn't "click" for me), yet I'm now learning Elixir (which totally "clicks") to complement Ruby in polyglot apps. Sounds like you didn't really invest much time in the former, or that post-hoc experience made it easier for you to understand, but you instead flocked over to Elixir.

thibaut_barrere 11y ago
I spent roughly the same time evaluating Erlang and Elixir, fwiw, but didn't do it at the same time (hence not at the same level of experience, either). I certainly consider that Elixir will lead me to love Erlang, but with a reduced initial friction (like CoffeeScript did for me with JavaScript, which I'm now confortable with).
seiji 11y ago
The only real way to learn Erlang is to spend 3 months reading the documentation from start to finish multiple times (not each API doc, just the guides), failing to figure out why your program won't compile, fixing that missing comma or extra semicolon, screaming, then finally, one day, it will all click. Along the way, you'll also learn by experience why to never implement your own "process" but always use gen_servers (hint: multiple code reloads blow processes away). There is no easy path to Erlang. When you learn a new programming language, what you are doing is creating an implementation of that programming language in your brain (including a tokenizer, parser, and interpreter). The reason people go EWWW at Erlang is they don't want to struggle to implement a new tokenizer and parser in their brains. They just want to learn one tokenizer and syntax forever then pretend that's all they ever need, all while basking in the superiority of their ignorance.
- angersock 11y ago
  You've hit on a great point here: learning a programming language requires you to be able to interpret it in your head if you want to be really productive on it. I think that that bears repeating.