[erlang-questions] node.js vs erlang

[Karl Nilsson]

I followed the cowboy getting started tutorial and found it very reassuring
to be taken all the way to generating a release. I am pretty sure I could
build on that sample and actually create something that could be used. I
think there is a lot of value in that. Personally I find tweet sized
getting started examples very unsatisfactory and prefer something that
gives and indication of workflow as well as the language. Hipsters may feel
differently.

Karl


On 19 June 2014 00:30, Loïc Hoguin <essen@REDACTED> wrote:

> On 06/18/2014 10:22 PM, Kenneth Lundin wrote:
>
>> That is what I meant, you are using a more complex setup with Erlang in
>> order to get more features. So the comparision with other languages
>> "simple setup" is not fair.
>>
>
> The setup is more complex but the way we get there isn't. Have you read
> the getting started chapter[1]? The release part is smaller than it would
> take to explain "erl -run" or "erl -s": we don't have to write extra code
> for it, we don't have to manually setup paths, we don't have to deal with
> reltool, and so on. It's literally "create relx.config, put this in it, run
> make again". Bam you got a release. That part can't get any simpler.
>
> Erlang *is* more complex to use than many other languages (it is still
> simpler than C, C++ and the like though). Either you do things manually by
> downloading dependencies manually and such, or you use a build system like
> erlang.mk (or rebar) to automate things which requires you to create an
> OTP application.
>
> Because erlang.mk automates the use of relx to build releases it is
> actually simpler to make a release than manually setup paths and whatnot.
> We just have to create the one file! We don't deal with reltool here,
> creating the release is *really* easier than not.
>
> There's no simpler alternative to all that in the Erlang ecosystem. We
> will be able to make it a little simpler by having templates instead of
> making the user copy things, but the getting started chapter will not go
> down in length dramatically because of this.
>
> We could remove all explanations to make it perhaps half the size it
> currently is, but then we removed all explanations. It's a chapter about
> getting started, it's supposed to provide initial pointers to users, not
> just get them to run an example and then ask themselves "now what?". We
> have actual examples for people that want that already.
>
> I am not even sure what triggers all these good comments about the nodejs
> documentation. Sure it has a 6 lines and 1 command example on its front
> page. There's no denying that. Then what? A link to API docs. I have *no*
> idea how people manage to learn how to use it. Surely by using other
> resources than these, because while I'm confident I could run the front
> page example quickly, I am also confident that's about all I could do with
> it for a rather long time until I manage to figure out how to do anything
> meaningful, if I were to only use the official docs.
>
> [1] http://ninenines.eu/docs/en/cowboy/HEAD/guide/getting_started/
>
>
> --
> Loïc Hoguin
> http://ninenines.eu
> _______________________________________________
> erlang-questions mailing list
> erlang-questions@REDACTED
> http://erlang.org/mailman/listinfo/erlang-questions
>



-- 
*Karl Nilsson*
twitter: @kjnilsson
blog: coderkarl.wordpress.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://erlang.org/pipermail/erlang-questions/attachments/20140619/64c5489b/attachment.htm>