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Learn You Some Erlang: What is OTP & Clients and Servers

58 points by mononcqc 16y ago

djhworld 16y ago
I've been reading the introduction to this and I'm hooked enough to give Erlang a go! It's nicely written and light enough as well, nothing too heavy.
sigzero 16y ago
I generally like the style of this and "Learn You a Haskell..." which it is styled after. I was thinking of using the style for Python, Perl, or Tcl version.
- someone_here 16y ago
  It would be really cool to have it for Javascript+WebGL... hrm, I think I just found a side project for myself :)
mononcqc 16y ago
For those who want a PDF or PostScript copy of the book, It is available in PDF at http://learnyousomeerlang.com/static/erlang/learnyousome.pdf.zip http://learnyousomeerlang.com/static/erlang/learnyousome.pdf... (1.1MB) and and PostScript at http://learnyousomeerlang.com/static/erlang/learnyousome.ps.zip http://learnyousomeerlang.com/static/erlang/learnyousome.ps.... (3.0MB). Thanks to Holger Weiß who went over the site, scraped it and converted the files.
karterk 16y ago
Being already familiar with Erlang, I wish I had this resource while starting out. This is way easier to read for starting out from scratch on Erlang, and is definitely a light but comprehensive read.
alexyoung 16y ago
I found myself enjoying this, even though all of these bad grammar titled randomly weird artwork _why-inspired programming books are surely a cliché now.
jerf 16y ago
By the way, if you are a fan of a language trying to replace Erlang (with my blessing), OTP is your real target. The shared-nothing processes and message passing and all that stuff is really all there with the goal of making the OTP libraries possible. Copy all that other stuff but miss the OTP functionality, and you will have copied the style while missing the substance.
- clofresh 16y ago
  Agreed that OTP is the meat. After writing my first gen_server, Erlang finally clicked with me. This series of blog posts served as a great tutorial to all the OTP behaviours: http://spawnlink.com/articles/tag/otp-introduction/ http://spawnlink.com/articles/tag/otp-introduction/
RickHull 16y ago
The second line of the kitty server: -export(start_link/0, order_cat/4, return_cat/1, close_shop/1]). Is seems odd to me that the close bracket is just dangling at the end. I find the Erlang syntax rather inscrutable...
- mononcqc 16y ago
  that's because it's a typo, not weird syntax. The linked file is fine. I just fixed it. Thanks for the find.
- dugmartin 16y ago
  Just "learn you some Prolog" and it will all make sense.
  - mahmud 16y ago
    Early versions of Erlang were implemented in Prolog.
    - silentbicycle 16y ago
      Yep, Erlang was a DSL on SICStus Prolog. Prolog's syntax is a lot cleaner, though - if you took your favorite language and added lots of new operators, so they were clearly the new language, how would it turn out? A lot of minor issues with Erlang (e.g. the whole ; vs , vs . thing) come from that. Once you get past the surface details, though, Erlang kicks ass. Hold on! (Prolog is awesome, too.)

58 points by mononcqc 16y ago

I've been reading the introduction to this and I'm hooked enough to give Erlang a go! It's nicely written and light enough as well, nothing too heavy.

sigzero 16y ago

I generally like the style of this and "Learn You a Haskell..." which it is styled after. I was thinking of using the style for Python, Perl, or Tcl version.

someone_here 16y ago
It would be really cool to have it for Javascript+WebGL... hrm, I think I just found a side project for myself :)

mononcqc 16y ago

For those who want a PDF or PostScript copy of the book, It is available in PDF at http://learnyousomeerlang.com/static/erlang/learnyousome.pdf.zip http://learnyousomeerlang.com/static/erlang/learnyousome.pdf... (1.1MB) and and PostScript at http://learnyousomeerlang.com/static/erlang/learnyousome.ps.zip http://learnyousomeerlang.com/static/erlang/learnyousome.ps.... (3.0MB). Thanks to Holger Weiß who went over the site, scraped it and converted the files.

karterk 16y ago

Being already familiar with Erlang, I wish I had this resource while starting out. This is way easier to read for starting out from scratch on Erlang, and is definitely a light but comprehensive read.

alexyoung 16y ago

I found myself enjoying this, even though all of these bad grammar titled randomly weird artwork _why-inspired programming books are surely a cliché now.

jerf 16y ago

By the way, if you are a fan of a language trying to replace Erlang (with my blessing), OTP is your real target. The shared-nothing processes and message passing and all that stuff is really all there with the goal of making the OTP libraries possible. Copy all that other stuff but miss the OTP functionality, and you will have copied the style while missing the substance.

clofresh 16y ago
Agreed that OTP is the meat. After writing my first gen_server, Erlang finally clicked with me. This series of blog posts served as a great tutorial to all the OTP behaviours: http://spawnlink.com/articles/tag/otp-introduction/ http://spawnlink.com/articles/tag/otp-introduction/

RickHull 16y ago

The second line of the kitty server: -export(start_link/0, order_cat/4, return_cat/1, close_shop/1]). Is seems odd to me that the close bracket is just dangling at the end. I find the Erlang syntax rather inscrutable...

mononcqc 16y ago
that's because it's a typo, not weird syntax. The linked file is fine. I just fixed it. Thanks for the find.
dugmartin 16y ago
Just "learn you some Prolog" and it will all make sense.
- mahmud 16y ago
  Early versions of Erlang were implemented in Prolog.
  - silentbicycle 16y ago
    Yep, Erlang was a DSL on SICStus Prolog. Prolog's syntax is a lot cleaner, though - if you took your favorite language and added lots of new operators, so they were clearly the new language, how would it turn out? A lot of minor issues with Erlang (e.g. the whole ; vs , vs . thing) come from that. Once you get past the surface details, though, Erlang kicks ass. Hold on! (Prolog is awesome, too.)