7 ms·

Y’all should really give Erlang/Elixir a try… this stuff is so much more trivial to deal with in that ecosystem and it pains me that it doesn’t get as much atte

by doawoo 2y ago

Y’all should really give Erlang/Elixir a try… this stuff is so much more trivial to deal with in that ecosystem and it pains me that it doesn’t get as much attention as Go does.

tail_exchange 2y ago
I am curious about Elixir, but I really can't bring myself to spend time mastering a language with dynamic types. You are removing one class of errors from your application, but at the same time inviting a new one that has been solved decades ago. I'm aware that this is a very controversial take, because lots of people love duck typed languages, but after working in large codebases, they are a hard pass for me. There's a reason why TypeScript was created for JavaScript, Sorbet was created for Ruby, and type hints is so popular with Python. I think I've seen something about gradual typing being introduced in Elixir, but gradual typing is still a long ways from enforcing type safety. Until then, I'll stick with Go. If I am mistaken and there is a "TypeScript for Elixir", then I would love to know about it.
- innocentoldguy 2y ago
  I've worked with strongly typed languages and duck typed languages. I've also worked a lot with Go and Elixir. In my opinion, the tradeoff between the elegance of Elixir's actor-based functional style vs. Go's warty imperative style is more compelling than static typing vs. duck typing. I love working with Elixir. Go is something I tolerate.
  - tail_exchange 2y ago
    That's a fair trade if you don't like Go, but I love working with it, so for me it has to be something more compelling than trading safe types for actor-based functional style. Go's imperativeness never bothered me.
- azurelake 2y ago
  Elixir is in the process of adding a gradual type system right now FWIW.
  - tail_exchange 2y ago
    Indeed, I mentioned it in my comment. Thanks.
innocentoldguy 2y ago
I agree. Having worked a lot with both, I think Elixir is by far the better language, especially for web programming.
tptacek 2y ago
They're very different languages and have different deployment dynamics. Elixir is a higher-level language. Other languages are lower-level. People will always be frustrated to see a language "shoehorned" into a higher- or lower- level setting where their preferred language might fit. We're an Elixir/Go/Rust shop. You could not use Rust and Go interchangeably for what we use them for, and you couldn't use Elixir almost anywhere we use Go.

by doawoo 2y ago

Y’all should really give Erlang/Elixir a try… this stuff is so much more trivial to deal with in that ecosystem and it pains me that it doesn’t get as much attention as Go does.

tail_exchange 2y ago

I am curious about Elixir, but I really can't bring myself to spend time mastering a language with dynamic types. You are removing one class of errors from your application, but at the same time inviting a new one that has been solved decades ago. I'm aware that this is a very controversial take, because lots of people love duck typed languages, but after working in large codebases, they are a hard pass for me. There's a reason why TypeScript was created for JavaScript, Sorbet was created for Ruby, and type hints is so popular with Python. I think I've seen something about gradual typing being introduced in Elixir, but gradual typing is still a long ways from enforcing type safety. Until then, I'll stick with Go. If I am mistaken and there is a "TypeScript for Elixir", then I would love to know about it.

innocentoldguy 2y ago
I've worked with strongly typed languages and duck typed languages. I've also worked a lot with Go and Elixir. In my opinion, the tradeoff between the elegance of Elixir's actor-based functional style vs. Go's warty imperative style is more compelling than static typing vs. duck typing. I love working with Elixir. Go is something I tolerate.
- tail_exchange 2y ago
  That's a fair trade if you don't like Go, but I love working with it, so for me it has to be something more compelling than trading safe types for actor-based functional style. Go's imperativeness never bothered me.
azurelake 2y ago
Elixir is in the process of adding a gradual type system right now FWIW.
- tail_exchange 2y ago
  Indeed, I mentioned it in my comment. Thanks.

innocentoldguy 2y ago

I agree. Having worked a lot with both, I think Elixir is by far the better language, especially for web programming.

tptacek 2y ago

They're very different languages and have different deployment dynamics. Elixir is a higher-level language. Other languages are lower-level. People will always be frustrated to see a language "shoehorned" into a higher- or lower- level setting where their preferred language might fit. We're an Elixir/Go/Rust shop. You could not use Rust and Go interchangeably for what we use them for, and you couldn't use Elixir almost anywhere we use Go.