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> the lack of generics Earnest question: isn't Elixir dynamically typed? If so, how is Go's type system worse? You can always drop down to `interface{}` (the d

> the lack of generics Earnest question: isn't Elixir dynamically typed? If so, how is Go's type system worse? You can always drop down to `interface{}` (the dynamic type) if you like, after all. > And, while go’s channels are cool, they don’t seem nearly as powerful as elixirs actor model/OTP — at least for this example. I haven't used Elixir, but I suspect this is true. Elixir/Erlang are probably the only two languages that probably have a better concurrency story than Go; however, there are other facets (tooling, deployment story, learning curve, etc) to consider in choosing a programming language, and I think Go is a really strong language on balance.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> Earnest question: isn't Elixir dynamically typed? If so, how is Go's type system worse? Elixir has built in support for type specifications and supports static analysis for (among other things) typechecking via dialyzer, a static analysis tool from the Erlang distribution for the BEAM VM.
- weberc2 8y ago
  Are these widely-used? When I tried kicking the tires on Elixir, it seemed like type annotations (specifications?) weren't used in practice, and they also seemed pretty clumsy (I didn't try hard, to be fair).
pdimitar 8y ago
Elixir and Go are not mutually exclusive though. As another sibling comment said: they serve different niches. I'd always reach for Elixir/Phoenix for any web app, or even API (if it's a big app). Also anything that requires heavy concurrency -- web spiders, data collectors of many kinds, scatter/gather flows (or any multi-stage flows; Elixir makes those processes brain-dead easy to code) -- then Erlang/Elixir are a no-brainer. People keep wrongfully underestimating them. But if I am to write a CLI app or a very heavy-duty network daemon, Go is IMO hands down unbeaten and the best possible choice. Also anything that requires serious number crunching.
- weberc2 8y ago
  > Elixir and Go are not mutually exclusive though. To be clear, I claimed nothing to the contrary. :) I only argued that concurrency isn't the only criteria in choosing a programming language for a particular project.
  - pdimitar 8y ago
    True. I mostly wrote my reply to help future readers. Sorry, didn't mean to leave you with the impression that you misworded your comment! :)

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Earnest question: isn't Elixir dynamically typed? If so, how is Go's type system worse? Elixir has built in support for type specifications and supports static analysis for (among other things) typechecking via dialyzer, a static analysis tool from the Erlang distribution for the BEAM VM.

weberc2 8y ago
Are these widely-used? When I tried kicking the tires on Elixir, it seemed like type annotations (specifications?) weren't used in practice, and they also seemed pretty clumsy (I didn't try hard, to be fair).

pdimitar 8y ago

Elixir and Go are not mutually exclusive though. As another sibling comment said: they serve different niches. I'd always reach for Elixir/Phoenix for any web app, or even API (if it's a big app). Also anything that requires heavy concurrency -- web spiders, data collectors of many kinds, scatter/gather flows (or any multi-stage flows; Elixir makes those processes brain-dead easy to code) -- then Erlang/Elixir are a no-brainer. People keep wrongfully underestimating them. But if I am to write a CLI app or a very heavy-duty network daemon, Go is IMO hands down unbeaten and the best possible choice. Also anything that requires serious number crunching.

weberc2 8y ago
> Elixir and Go are not mutually exclusive though. To be clear, I claimed nothing to the contrary. :) I only argued that concurrency isn't the only criteria in choosing a programming language for a particular project.
- pdimitar 8y ago
  True. I mostly wrote my reply to help future readers. Sorry, didn't mean to leave you with the impression that you misworded your comment! :)