[erlang-questions] Erlang emacs workflow question

[Garrett Smith]

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 12:39 PM, Mike Oxford <moxford@REDACTED> wrote:
> Write some code
> C-c C-k to make sure it compiles
> Spin a release (using rebar) in another window
> Run the code in another window
> Is there a better/more streamlined way to do this, all from within emacs (I
> have erl running in another window.)

It's a bit more elaborate than what you're asking for, but I use Emacs
and an Erlang shell under tmux, which provides a pretty nice workflow.

Emacs is in tmux window 0, use for editing and compiling. I have a key
binding for 'compile' (C-x C-m) and use a makefile in the src
directory. This gives me a quick way to compile the app and use C-x ~
to visit errors/warnings.

I run erl in tmux window 1 and always keep it running. I have a
'shell' target in my makefile that handles setting ERL_LIBS (or
explicit path settings) and starts any apps that I typically work with
under dev.

In particular, and very importantly, I always start Mochiweb's
reloader module (which would be a great addition to core Erlang!).
This will watch loaded modules for changes and automatically reload
them. So when I compile from Emacs and switch over to the erl shell,
all my latest changes are available.

This "long running" shell lets me play around, test, whatever as I
modify code in Emacs. It's a more ad hoc mode than re-running tests
from a newly started Erlang VM. It also gives you a feel for how
Erlang apps can indeed "run forever" with loosely coupled components
that can be restarted, reloaded, corrupted, repaired, etc.

While I know it's a common work flow, I'm not a fan of generating
releases and restarting erl for routine dev changes. I actually can't
imagine doing that, given how seamless the 'reloader' workflow is.

Btw, tmux in this case is optional -- you could do the same thing in
Emacs. I like (strike that, love) tmux because it does for shell
sessions what Emacs does for text files. If you happen to do a lot of
dev on remote servers over ssh, tmux is a life saver if you lose your
connection.

Garrett