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For me, Elixir is a way to do Rails-like web development with much better runtime performance, plus the big bonus of functional programming. And because Rails

by blunte 9y ago

For me, Elixir is a way to do Rails-like web development with much better runtime performance, plus the big bonus of functional programming. And because Rails was such a success (I still get recruiter spam constantly for Rails positions, even after 10 years), I think Phoenix+Elixir will gradually come out on top. It's just a shame that I fell in love with the Lispiness of Clojure. Do...End...sigh.

cutler 9y ago
Beyond the superficial syntax similarities how can developing in a functional language possibly be Rails-like? Mutable OO and immutable FP are opposite ends of the spectrum. I never bought this Elixir for Rubyists sales pitch. Phoenix does't even use an ORM. That said, I really like Phoenix. I too get a lot of Rails spam from recruiters which I find hard to fathom since Rails usage is on the decline. What's your take on this? Is it that Rails shops will only settle for senior developers?
- blunte 9y ago
  Syntax similarity probably reduces the "fear of new" (different) that prevents some people from making the transition. But the biggest factor is that the creator of Elixir, José Valim, is a well respected Rails contributor. But indeed, Elixir is so different from Ruby that one doesn't just casually move to it from Ruby without learning to think functionally. To your question about Rails, I'm not sure I can say whether it's in decline or not. But I do know that many hiring managers are not technical enough to know what's important, so they try to replace exiting employees with people who have the same skills. And probably there are one or more Rails apps that still need dev/maintenance. As far as money goes, Rails is still a very lucrative career focus, at least in the US.
  - cutler 9y ago
    Rails adoption in the U.S. relative to it competitors - Laravel, Node and Django - is much higher than anywhere else. Outside London Rails adoption is very low in Europe.

by blunte 9y ago

cutler 9y ago

Beyond the superficial syntax similarities how can developing in a functional language possibly be Rails-like? Mutable OO and immutable FP are opposite ends of the spectrum. I never bought this Elixir for Rubyists sales pitch. Phoenix does't even use an ORM. That said, I really like Phoenix. I too get a lot of Rails spam from recruiters which I find hard to fathom since Rails usage is on the decline. What's your take on this? Is it that Rails shops will only settle for senior developers?

blunte 9y ago
Syntax similarity probably reduces the "fear of new" (different) that prevents some people from making the transition. But the biggest factor is that the creator of Elixir, José Valim, is a well respected Rails contributor. But indeed, Elixir is so different from Ruby that one doesn't just casually move to it from Ruby without learning to think functionally. To your question about Rails, I'm not sure I can say whether it's in decline or not. But I do know that many hiring managers are not technical enough to know what's important, so they try to replace exiting employees with people who have the same skills. And probably there are one or more Rails apps that still need dev/maintenance. As far as money goes, Rails is still a very lucrative career focus, at least in the US.
- cutler 9y ago
  Rails adoption in the U.S. relative to it competitors - Laravel, Node and Django - is much higher than anywhere else. Outside London Rails adoption is very low in Europe.