Why Erlang is the best concurrent language available

[Sean Hinde]

xref is your friend. It will analyse a set of modules (e.g. a whole
installation) for calls to non-existing functions in other modules.

Sean

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric Newhuis [mailto:enewhuis@REDACTED]
> Sent: 23 January 2003 16:02
> To: erlang-questions@REDACTED
> Subject: Re: Why Erlang is the best concurrent language available
> 
> 
> I don't have enough experience to pass judgement yet but so 
> far I will say
> that Erlang is the best language that I have found for doing 
> concurrent
> programming in an Extreme Programming environment.
> 
> Erlang is a great language for testing Erlang.  And I've not found any
> parallel in other languages that allows me to test the complexities of
> concurrency as easily as in Erlang.
> 
> We have adopted an OO style whereby each module is a distinct 
> active object.
> And our unit tests are developed along side each object.
> 
> This is the most fun I've had writing software in my life.  
> I've done C,
> C++, Java, K (like APL), C#, tiny amounts of Perl, VB, many 
> other things,
> and now Erlang.  I've even tried ObjectiveCaml.  I've even 
> tried Douglass
> Schmidt's Reactor in C++, both the ACE and my own proprietary stuff.
> 
> So far, among all of these, Erlang seems the best for my 
> problem space.
> 
> There is only one stumbling block for my team right now.  
> Because we don't
> know how to check for module dependencies during compilation 
> time, when we
> refactor module names we sometimes forget to modify the 
> import statements
> and it takes a long time to figure out why our unit tests break.
> 
> I recall that there was some utility or feature that does 
> module dependency
> checking but I think I need two things:
> 
> 1. Within a module I want strict explicit import rules.  I 
> want the compiler
> to bark if I use a module that I haven't explicity imported.  
> If not the
> compiler then some sort of tool I can invoke from make.
> 
> 2. Among interdependent modules I want something to check 
> that all modules
> actually exist before I run my code.  I need something I can 
> invoke from
> make.
> 
> I think these are the two things that are holding us up from 
> claiming that
> Erlang is ideal as Erlang can be.  So once we figure out how 
> to do these
> things we'll be very happy and convinced.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Eric Newhuis
> 
> 



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