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Elixir is simply the first language since Ruby to really care about code beauty and UX of the language, libraries and ecosystem. I can't recommend Phoenix and

Elixir is simply the first language since Ruby to really care about code beauty and UX of the language, libraries and ecosystem. I can't recommend Phoenix and Elixir enough.

igravious 10y ago
This sentiment is being repeated over and over and one can't help but notice it. But I'm really really really reluctant to switch from Ruby for yet another language/ecosystem unless it were to something industrial-strength like Haskell. What is so amazing about Elixir?
- careersuicide 10y ago
  As a long time Rubyist here's a brief rundown of the features Elixir has that made me reach for it with increasing frequency: * Pattern matching: http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/pattern-matching.html http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/pattern-matching.html * Guard clauses in function definitions: http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/case-cond-and-if.html#expressions-in-guard-clauses http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/case-cond-and-if.html... * Macros: http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/case-cond-and-if.html#expressions-in-guard-clauses http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/case-cond-and-if.html... * The |> operator: http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/enumerables-and-streams.html#the-pipe-operator http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/enumerables-and-strea... For me those really are the killer features for Elixir. I know most people will point to Elixir's support for concurrency and the whole GenServer thing that it gets from Erlang when discussing why Elixir is interesting. And those aspects of the language/ecosystem really are awesome. But being able to nearly eliminate explicit conditionals with guard clauses is just so damn cool I can barely stand it. And the |> operator is something I desperately wish Ruby had. I like Elixir a lot because it seems to put a huge emphasis on making my job as a programmer suck less without sacrificing other things in the process.
zem 10y ago
elixir looks awesome, but there's no need to overstate its case - tons of languages really cared about beautiful code and a pleasant ecosystem. clojure was perhaps the best in that respect; there was a lot of effort made to have consistent and pretty libraries. f# seems like it's shaping up nicely too, though it still has some rough edges (but then again, so does ruby!). pyret does "beautiful code" even better than ruby does; if it had a good command line implementation and ecosystem it might have been my new favourite scripting and general-purpose language by now. elm puts a lot of love and effort into both the language and the libraries, and in particular has some of the most user-friendly error messages i've ever seen. and that's just the languages i'm familiar with; i'm sure others can chime in with lots more.

Elixir is simply the first language since Ruby to really care about code beauty and UX of the language, libraries and ecosystem. I can't recommend Phoenix and Elixir enough.

igravious 10y ago

This sentiment is being repeated over and over and one can't help but notice it. But I'm really really really reluctant to switch from Ruby for yet another language/ecosystem unless it were to something industrial-strength like Haskell. What is so amazing about Elixir?

careersuicide 10y ago
As a long time Rubyist here's a brief rundown of the features Elixir has that made me reach for it with increasing frequency: * Pattern matching: http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/pattern-matching.html http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/pattern-matching.html * Guard clauses in function definitions: http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/case-cond-and-if.html#expressions-in-guard-clauses http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/case-cond-and-if.html... * Macros: http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/case-cond-and-if.html#expressions-in-guard-clauses http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/case-cond-and-if.html... * The |> operator: http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/enumerables-and-streams.html#the-pipe-operator http://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/enumerables-and-strea... For me those really are the killer features for Elixir. I know most people will point to Elixir's support for concurrency and the whole GenServer thing that it gets from Erlang when discussing why Elixir is interesting. And those aspects of the language/ecosystem really are awesome. But being able to nearly eliminate explicit conditionals with guard clauses is just so damn cool I can barely stand it. And the |> operator is something I desperately wish Ruby had. I like Elixir a lot because it seems to put a huge emphasis on making my job as a programmer suck less without sacrificing other things in the process.

zem 10y ago

elixir looks awesome, but there's no need to overstate its case - tons of languages really cared about beautiful code and a pleasant ecosystem. clojure was perhaps the best in that respect; there was a lot of effort made to have consistent and pretty libraries. f# seems like it's shaping up nicely too, though it still has some rough edges (but then again, so does ruby!). pyret does "beautiful code" even better than ruby does; if it had a good command line implementation and ecosystem it might have been my new favourite scripting and general-purpose language by now. elm puts a lot of love and effort into both the language and the libraries, and in particular has some of the most user-friendly error messages i've ever seen. and that's just the languages i'm familiar with; i'm sure others can chime in with lots more.