6 ms·

Erlang is at long last getting the break it deserves.

20 points by foemmel 18y ago

davidw 18y ago
Yeah, it's got some visibility. The question is: will they be able to run with it? Erlang does some stuff really well, and other things not so well. Will it remain the right tool for a specific job, or something people also use for a variety of tasks? Despite knowing and liking Erlang, my guess is that the first is likelier to occur: http://journal.dedasys.com/articles/2007/09/22/erlang http://journal.dedasys.com/articles/2007/09/22/erlang
- yariv 18y ago
  Erlang is great for writing high-availability, low latency server-based applications -- including web applications. What people will use it for is up to their imagination. Wings3d (http://www.wings3d.com/ http://www.wings3d.com/) is a good example of using Erlang outside of its "intended" domain. Don't forget that when Java came out, it was only "good" for writing applets...
inovica 18y ago
I've not tried it yet, but we have to do a particular distributed crawler app for something and it's been recommended to look at it. For me if a language is amazing at something then it would be prudent to focus on that. I often use more than one language in my projects - the best language for the particular job.
- simonw 18y ago
  I'd be a bit scared of using Erlang for crawling since the actual text processing capabilities of the language are pretty weak. Crawling seems like the kind of thing where you'd want a message queue style system (potentially written in Erlang) that co-ordinates plenty of individual crawling processes written in a language better suited for text handling.
  - inovica 18y ago
    Thanks for the tip. I'll bear that in mind.
- jfarmer 18y ago
  Erlang is best for software that works like telco switches, i.e., you have the need to route thousands of messages in real-time. Chat, IM, SMS, message queues, etc. are all well-suited for Erlang. Tasks that involves lots of I/O and parsing, not so much.
  - inovica 18y ago
    Thanks
  - KirinDave 18y ago
    So you're suggesting that IM, Chat, SMS and message queues aren't about Parsing and I/O? Erlang has weaknesses, but certainly those are not it. Basically, Erlang excells at writing servers. Take a look at YAWS (http://yaws.hyber.org/ http://yaws.hyber.org/) for a web server written in Erlang that can actually outperform more traditional web servers in very realistic scenarios. If I had to name a weakness or two of erlang offhand: 1. Integrating foreign code with Erlang is very different from traditional FFI and requires some initial legwork (libraries like Erlectricity http://github.com/KirinDave/erlectricity/tree/master http://github.com/KirinDave/erlectricity/tree/master , for example). 2. String manipulation. Erlang doesn't have a real string type. Its string libraries and core string type assume using linked lists for strings, which is spectacularly inefficient. However, there is a movement and a proposal to change the string type to Erlang binaries and provide an alternative string library. Hopefully that will address the problem. Other than that, it's a reasonably fast and rock-solid implementation of an FP language with a mountain of solid IPC library code integrated at the language level.
    - yariv 18y ago
      Representing strings as lists can be very efficient depends on what you're trying to do. Incidentally, Haskell does the same thing. I think the "Erlang sucks for strings" argument is overblown, and it's rarely if ever backed by real world experience and/or data. Erlang is fine for most string handling tasks you'll find in a typical (web) application.
      - 18y ago
jorgeortiz85 18y ago
Erlang may be getting the "recognition" it deserves, but... the "break" it deserves? Really? Come on guys, give Erlang a break.
- Andys 18y ago
  Also... "deserves" ? Erlang deserves nothing. Its just another language - one which I happen to think has filthy syntax, and will probably never use for that reason.
keating 18y ago
> Facebook chat is a heavy erlang user Heavy? They must be going by Facebook's user base, not amount of code (the system is a hybrid of multiple languages) or even actual usage (they just launched it, I doubt everyone has switched over from IM yet, if they ever will).
bprater 18y ago
I was like 'scale ordie.com', what a strange sounding site. Ohhh, scale-or-die.com.

20 points by foemmel 18y ago

Yeah, it's got some visibility. The question is: will they be able to run with it? Erlang does some stuff really well, and other things not so well. Will it remain the right tool for a specific job, or something people also use for a variety of tasks? Despite knowing and liking Erlang, my guess is that the first is likelier to occur: http://journal.dedasys.com/articles/2007/09/22/erlang http://journal.dedasys.com/articles/2007/09/22/erlang

yariv 18y ago
Erlang is great for writing high-availability, low latency server-based applications -- including web applications. What people will use it for is up to their imagination. Wings3d (http://www.wings3d.com/ http://www.wings3d.com/) is a good example of using Erlang outside of its "intended" domain. Don't forget that when Java came out, it was only "good" for writing applets...

inovica 18y ago

I've not tried it yet, but we have to do a particular distributed crawler app for something and it's been recommended to look at it. For me if a language is amazing at something then it would be prudent to focus on that. I often use more than one language in my projects - the best language for the particular job.

simonw 18y ago
I'd be a bit scared of using Erlang for crawling since the actual text processing capabilities of the language are pretty weak. Crawling seems like the kind of thing where you'd want a message queue style system (potentially written in Erlang) that co-ordinates plenty of individual crawling processes written in a language better suited for text handling.
- inovica 18y ago
  Thanks for the tip. I'll bear that in mind.
jfarmer 18y ago
Erlang is best for software that works like telco switches, i.e., you have the need to route thousands of messages in real-time. Chat, IM, SMS, message queues, etc. are all well-suited for Erlang. Tasks that involves lots of I/O and parsing, not so much.
- inovica 18y ago
  Thanks
- KirinDave 18y ago
  So you're suggesting that IM, Chat, SMS and message queues aren't about Parsing and I/O? Erlang has weaknesses, but certainly those are not it. Basically, Erlang excells at writing servers. Take a look at YAWS (http://yaws.hyber.org/ http://yaws.hyber.org/) for a web server written in Erlang that can actually outperform more traditional web servers in very realistic scenarios. If I had to name a weakness or two of erlang offhand: 1. Integrating foreign code with Erlang is very different from traditional FFI and requires some initial legwork (libraries like Erlectricity http://github.com/KirinDave/erlectricity/tree/master http://github.com/KirinDave/erlectricity/tree/master , for example). 2. String manipulation. Erlang doesn't have a real string type. Its string libraries and core string type assume using linked lists for strings, which is spectacularly inefficient. However, there is a movement and a proposal to change the string type to Erlang binaries and provide an alternative string library. Hopefully that will address the problem. Other than that, it's a reasonably fast and rock-solid implementation of an FP language with a mountain of solid IPC library code integrated at the language level.
  - yariv 18y ago
    Representing strings as lists can be very efficient depends on what you're trying to do. Incidentally, Haskell does the same thing. I think the "Erlang sucks for strings" argument is overblown, and it's rarely if ever backed by real world experience and/or data. Erlang is fine for most string handling tasks you'll find in a typical (web) application.
    - 18y ago

jorgeortiz85 18y ago

Erlang may be getting the "recognition" it deserves, but... the "break" it deserves? Really? Come on guys, give Erlang a break.

Andys 18y ago
Also... "deserves" ? Erlang deserves nothing. Its just another language - one which I happen to think has filthy syntax, and will probably never use for that reason.

keating 18y ago

> Facebook chat is a heavy erlang user Heavy? They must be going by Facebook's user base, not amount of code (the system is a hybrid of multiple languages) or even actual usage (they just launched it, I doubt everyone has switched over from IM yet, if they ever will).

bprater 18y ago

I was like 'scale ordie.com', what a strange sounding site. Ohhh, scale-or-die.com.