[erlang-questions] Erlang application and web services

[Chandru]

Hi Martin,

On 11 April 2016 at 22:13, Martin Hedberg <skribent_har@REDACTED> wrote:

> Hi everyone
>
> I am more of a pointy hair boss crossed with Ratbert then a
> pure programmer so feel free to make a Dilbert joke if my question is
> stupid :-) . Have an idea for a desktop application that needs to connect
> to many external web services at the same time, handle both REST and SOAP
> and take some instructions from my own service in the cloud. This network
> oriented app made me think extra of Erlang.
>
> However it is said that premature optimization is the root to all evil in
> software development.
>
Yes, that is the Erlang way, but beware, it is a bit more nuanced than that
[1]. But yes, for early stage development/prototyping when you're still
trying to understand the problem, it is a valid statement.


> My impression is that Erlang is much better at this type of work then
> Java.
>
You will find a lot of agreement on this mailing list :-)

> But there isn't (of what I know) any real all in one Erlang solution
> comparable to Red Hat JBoss.
>
Not sure what you mean. The following apps will give you the foundation of
what you have asked for.

cowboy - for the web server side. https://github.com/ninenines/cowboy
soap -  for the SOAP encoding/decoding. https://github.com/bet365/soap/

> So I wonder: Would it be wise to include Erlang in an early phase (server
> side and app side) so I have a solid foundation or would it be premature
> optimization?
>
Erlang is perfect for prototyping as you can get working code quickly.
Obviously this depends on having someone who is familiar with the language.
So if you've got access to hardcore Java programmers, and you want
something off the ground quickly, you're better off doing it in Java.

> I value tech support and if something goes south I would like that the
> support staff have an understanding of the whole system.
>
Enough understanding to fix the problem? In which case there is no shortcut
to actually understanding the code. If not, then it very much depends on
how much diagnostics are built into your running system.

cheers,
Chandru

[1]
http://joeduffyblog.com/2010/09/06/the-premature-optimization-is-evil-myth/
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