5 ms·

I'm really tempted to use Erlang/Elixir for a project at work but unsure of its traction. Is it leading edge or trailing edge? I don't even know, but don't want

by rb808 11y ago

I'm really tempted to use Erlang/Elixir for a project at work but unsure of its traction. Is it leading edge or trailing edge? I don't even know, but don't want to saddle the firm with a white elephant - even one that is impeccably fault-tolerant. Is Erlang too esoteric?

PetrolMan 11y ago
We've pushed a couple of Elixir apps in the past six months. There was definitely a bit of worry that no one would be able to maintain it, but I have to say that the code is very readable. So many languages integrate some functional aspects that the code doesn't look foreign in most cases. Also, the Phoenix Framework (if you're building a web app) is really, really nice.
tombert 11y ago
It depends on your location, I think. Here in New York, it's not too hard to find Erlang enthusiasts, particularly ones that work on Wall Street. That said, no one seemed to have even heard of the language in Dallas when I lived there. So the long-story-short of this is that if you don't mind doing some remote-hiring, it's not too hard to find workers, and things like Ejabberd have a ton of tutorials on writing modules.
SpacemanSpiff 11y ago
Embedded systems programmer here. I'm learning Elixir and am very excited about the nerves project: http://nerves-project.org/ http://nerves-project.org/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpzQrFC55q4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpzQrFC55q4 Edit: There also seems to be a good Elixir/Erlang community here in Berlin Germany where I live at the moment.
- ccozan 11y ago
  Do you have some link or contacts in/to this community? I am in process to develop a quite interesting application on Erlang and I am struggling to find a community (in Germany) where I can either ask questions or have a pool of possible people to hire.
  - SpacemanSpiff 11y ago
    Hi, I'm quite new to the community myself, so I don't have any established contacts to share at the moment. I recommend checking here: http://www.meetup.com/Elixir-Berlin/ http://www.meetup.com/Elixir-Berlin/ This company also has an office in Berlin now: https://www.erlang-solutions.com/contact.html https://www.erlang-solutions.com/contact.html
aaron-lebo 11y ago
I think it depends on your hiring process. Do you hire people who know how to code in language X and are really good at coding in language X but nothing else? Or, do you hire people who are go-getters, want to use the best tool for the job, and want to learn? Because if the latter, Erlang/Elixir might be esoteric, but Elixir specifically is a simpler language than currently more popular languages like Python or Ruby. It's also more elegant. I like to think of it as Scheme + Ruby syntax + pattern matching + concurrency. If that excites you, carry on. If that scares you, go for something more traditional (and no hard feelings) :).
- debacle 11y ago
  I would confidently state the bigger problem would be salary. If you hire cheap programmers you probably can't afford to do Erlang development.
  - nvarsj 11y ago
    Seems like a strange view to have. The best paying work is generally in boring, enterprise approved languages. It's probably a competitive advantage for a small company to pick a niche language - I wager they would hire better quality engineers for less money.
    - debacle 11y ago
      The best paying work is not in boring, enterprise approved languages. I'm not sure where you heard that.
- namelezz 11y ago
  Sometime I wonder why Elixir tries too hard to have Ruby syntax. Erlang: loop_through([H|T]) -> io:format('~p~n', [H]), loop_through(T); loop_through([]) -> ok. It seems convenient to use ';' to separate multiple definitions of a function compared to using 'end' in Elixir(function definition continues in the next block) Elixir: def loop_through([h|t]) do IO.inspect h loop_through t end def loop_through([]) do :ok end
dmix 11y ago
Having spent quite a bit of time searching for Erlang packages on Github recently, I've found quite a few Erlang packages haven't had commits since around 2013. I believe there was a spike in adoption around 2012-2013 which resulted in a bunch of activity on Github. Which seemed to have tapered off recently. But you still find many core packages that are active - things like JSON parsers, templating libraries, and web frameworks are all lively. And OTP and Erlang itself are always being improved. Plus there is an up-to-date package manager/global repo (https://hex.pm/ https://hex.pm/) which is used by both Erlang and Elixir. Plus Rebar3, the primary build tool for Erlang projects, is actively developed. But Elixir packages are very active in general since it's relatively new and these packages can be used within Erlang apps relatively easily as well. Plus the Erlang packages from 2013 that I've used have all been pretty stable. The quality of libraries available on Github have all been very high from my experience. I believe Erlang attracts experienced developers, which is reflected in the typical code quality and documentation. My only wish is for the Erlang website (http://www.erlang.org/ http://www.erlang.org/) to get a redesign. It gives the language an esoteric apperance to newbies. Which is a shame because I absolutely love the language and think it's far superior for many of the types of projects for which people have been using Node.
- simoncion 11y ago
  Man, whoever redesigns erlang.org needs to think really hard about how they're going to re-work the documentation section. It's really good as is: * Color scheme and fonts are easy to read. * One can switch between API reference for the current module and Users Guide for its containing application with one click. * On the left-hand-side one has a scrollable tree of modules in the current application, each of which is expandable to reveal the API calls within any given module. * Sensible URL scheme: doc/man/$MODULE.html for a module's API docs and doc/apps/$APP/users_guide.html for an application's Users Guide.
  - RobertKerans 11y ago
    It doesn't need much, just very slight tweaks to the typography so it's a bit cleaner + a bit more visual separation between function descriptions + slightly better handling of the navigation. It's just all a little bit jammed together atm, IMO. As I say, wouldn't take much. One thing I've found I love are the PDF documentation downloads; I wasn't expecting much, but (for example, the xmerl one) they're great, step by step useful examples that I can shove on an ereader to go through. Really solid.

by rb808 11y ago

PetrolMan 11y ago

We've pushed a couple of Elixir apps in the past six months. There was definitely a bit of worry that no one would be able to maintain it, but I have to say that the code is very readable. So many languages integrate some functional aspects that the code doesn't look foreign in most cases. Also, the Phoenix Framework (if you're building a web app) is really, really nice.

tombert 11y ago

It depends on your location, I think. Here in New York, it's not too hard to find Erlang enthusiasts, particularly ones that work on Wall Street. That said, no one seemed to have even heard of the language in Dallas when I lived there. So the long-story-short of this is that if you don't mind doing some remote-hiring, it's not too hard to find workers, and things like Ejabberd have a ton of tutorials on writing modules.

SpacemanSpiff 11y ago

Embedded systems programmer here. I'm learning Elixir and am very excited about the nerves project: http://nerves-project.org/ http://nerves-project.org/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpzQrFC55q4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpzQrFC55q4 Edit: There also seems to be a good Elixir/Erlang community here in Berlin Germany where I live at the moment.

ccozan 11y ago
Do you have some link or contacts in/to this community? I am in process to develop a quite interesting application on Erlang and I am struggling to find a community (in Germany) where I can either ask questions or have a pool of possible people to hire.
- SpacemanSpiff 11y ago
  Hi, I'm quite new to the community myself, so I don't have any established contacts to share at the moment. I recommend checking here: http://www.meetup.com/Elixir-Berlin/ http://www.meetup.com/Elixir-Berlin/ This company also has an office in Berlin now: https://www.erlang-solutions.com/contact.html https://www.erlang-solutions.com/contact.html

aaron-lebo 11y ago

I think it depends on your hiring process. Do you hire people who know how to code in language X and are really good at coding in language X but nothing else? Or, do you hire people who are go-getters, want to use the best tool for the job, and want to learn? Because if the latter, Erlang/Elixir might be esoteric, but Elixir specifically is a simpler language than currently more popular languages like Python or Ruby. It's also more elegant. I like to think of it as Scheme + Ruby syntax + pattern matching + concurrency. If that excites you, carry on. If that scares you, go for something more traditional (and no hard feelings) :).

debacle 11y ago
I would confidently state the bigger problem would be salary. If you hire cheap programmers you probably can't afford to do Erlang development.
- nvarsj 11y ago
  Seems like a strange view to have. The best paying work is generally in boring, enterprise approved languages. It's probably a competitive advantage for a small company to pick a niche language - I wager they would hire better quality engineers for less money.
  - debacle 11y ago
    The best paying work is not in boring, enterprise approved languages. I'm not sure where you heard that.
namelezz 11y ago
Sometime I wonder why Elixir tries too hard to have Ruby syntax. Erlang: loop_through([H|T]) -> io:format('~p~n', [H]), loop_through(T); loop_through([]) -> ok. It seems convenient to use ';' to separate multiple definitions of a function compared to using 'end' in Elixir(function definition continues in the next block) Elixir: def loop_through([h|t]) do IO.inspect h loop_through t end def loop_through([]) do :ok end

dmix 11y ago

Having spent quite a bit of time searching for Erlang packages on Github recently, I've found quite a few Erlang packages haven't had commits since around 2013. I believe there was a spike in adoption around 2012-2013 which resulted in a bunch of activity on Github. Which seemed to have tapered off recently. But you still find many core packages that are active - things like JSON parsers, templating libraries, and web frameworks are all lively. And OTP and Erlang itself are always being improved. Plus there is an up-to-date package manager/global repo (https://hex.pm/ https://hex.pm/) which is used by both Erlang and Elixir. Plus Rebar3, the primary build tool for Erlang projects, is actively developed. But Elixir packages are very active in general since it's relatively new and these packages can be used within Erlang apps relatively easily as well. Plus the Erlang packages from 2013 that I've used have all been pretty stable. The quality of libraries available on Github have all been very high from my experience. I believe Erlang attracts experienced developers, which is reflected in the typical code quality and documentation. My only wish is for the Erlang website (http://www.erlang.org/ http://www.erlang.org/) to get a redesign. It gives the language an esoteric apperance to newbies. Which is a shame because I absolutely love the language and think it's far superior for many of the types of projects for which people have been using Node.

simoncion 11y ago
Man, whoever redesigns erlang.org needs to think really hard about how they're going to re-work the documentation section. It's really good as is: * Color scheme and fonts are easy to read. * One can switch between API reference for the current module and Users Guide for its containing application with one click. * On the left-hand-side one has a scrollable tree of modules in the current application, each of which is expandable to reveal the API calls within any given module. * Sensible URL scheme: doc/man/$MODULE.html for a module's API docs and doc/apps/$APP/users_guide.html for an application's Users Guide.
- RobertKerans 11y ago
  It doesn't need much, just very slight tweaks to the typography so it's a bit cleaner + a bit more visual separation between function descriptions + slightly better handling of the navigation. It's just all a little bit jammed together atm, IMO. As I say, wouldn't take much. One thing I've found I love are the PDF documentation downloads; I wasn't expecting much, but (for example, the xmerl one) they're great, step by step useful examples that I can shove on an ereader to go through. Really solid.