[erlang-questions] Erlang... Newsletter?

[Karolis Petrauskas]

Hello,

    I would be happy to read such a newsletter.

Karolis

On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 8:51 PM, Motiejus Jakštys <desired.mta@REDACTED> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This issue was raised many times in this mailing list, and I stumble on
> it over and over again.
>
> As we know, OTP has many well-hidden pearls, that oft times you learn
> about only after implementing your own (or, unfortunately, never). Same
> for third-party Erlang libraries and applications, which often do not
> get the attention they are worth.
>
> I suggest a weekly* email to this mailing list**, which would present a
> "product" from one of these categories:
> 1. In OTP, application building blocks.
> 2. In OTP aids for coding, testing, profiling, debugging.
> 3. Third-party library, an application building block.
> 4. Third party aids for coding, testing, profiling, debugging.
>
> A write-up should have short description how it can be used, why, and a
> link for more information. If applicable, with code examples or anything
> you see fit. It should be lightly readable, kind of one that you can
> absorb while you are having breakfast. Something that takes <3 minutes
> to read and sticks.
>
> Purpose of it is for everyone to see that a certain thing exists, and
> remember that you have seen something similar when you actually need it.
>
> Organization
> ============
>
> For start, I suggest making it round-robin per category. If we see that
> we have enough content to write, we can put 2 items per email (from
> distinct categories).
>
> Every email should go to a publicly available site. My suggestion is
> github wiki, because it can be git fetched and pushed and I Markdown is
> only half bad.
>
> Target audience is somebody who has read a textbook about Erlang (or
> LYSEFGG, for that matter). You should not speak about gen_fsm, mnesia or
> running EUnit tests. The goal is to introduce what an average Erlanger
> might not know. For example:
> 1. gen_event, inets, pg2, global
> 2. percept, observer, dbg, dialyzer, xref
> 3. piqi, ranch, apache thrift, gproc
> 4. PropEr, BenchErl, redbug, vimerl, wrangler
>
> Questions for everyone:
>
> 1. While I can write about some things myself, participation of others
>    is essential. Would you be interested in reading this, or would you
>    create a filter which marks it as spam? Honesty and strong language
>    in answers to this question are most welcome.
> 2. Would you submit a 3-minute reading about part of OTP or your
>    favourite tool?
>
> For now I have no idea how to answer a question "who posts this week",
> but I think this question will answer itself as time goes. Remember,
> more content -- better for everyone.
>
> To get an idea how a write-up might look like, I made an example about
> piqi, one of the best tools for Erlang RPC services out there. Anton,
> sorry if something is incorrect, I tried to do my best.
>
> Piqi example
> ============
>
> About
> -----
> Piqi — a powerful data definition language. It is specially designed to
> be used with Piq (data representation language, kind of JSON, but
> structured and looks different), but also works as a schema language for
> other data formats including JSON, XML and Protocol Buffers binary
> format.
>
> When you should use it
> ----------------------
> When implementing a web API, often you have to expose an external
> interface, which *must* be formally defined. Piqi gives you ability to
> define an interface, which can be used by several transports:
> * Google Protocol Buffers
> * JSON
> * XML
> * Piq (the piqi transport)
>
> Note that both XML and Google Protocol Buffers support interface
> definitions. But then you are stuck with a single transport. Piqi gives
> you flexibility to use any transport for the same data definition.
>
>
> More information
> ----------------
> Official website: http://piqi.org/
> A biased introduction: http://m.jakstys.lt/tech/2012/04/erlmpc-and-the-awesomeness-of-piqi/
>
> [*]: /biweekly/monthly. It just has to be periodic and not too frequent.
> [**]: or a blog-like thing, or "planet Erlang".. Format does not matter.
>       Periodicity and content are what matters.
>
> Regards,
> Motiejus Jakštys
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