Linking to/from a gen_server?

[Faust]

This is a message from comp.lang.functional.
Someone wanted "hot code replacement, just like erlang"
I suggested using erlang.
This was the reply I recieved.

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me could answer in comp.lang.functional

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Forwarded from comp.lang.functional

Faust wrote:
> 
> Erlang is a functional language.
> Is there any reason to not use erlang ?

I have never programmed in Erlang, just skimmed a few chapters of 
written material, so take this as an account of how good or bad the 
Erlang PR is, not whether Erlang is good or bad.
So, here's what speaks against Erlang (there are also a lot of things 
that speak *for* it, I'm omitting that because it would be off-topic):

1. No static typing.

2. Bytecode interpreted (i.e. not compiled to native code).

3. Possibly not "really functional", i.e. mutable stuff (message sends 
and state-dependent responses) play an important part when it comes to 
structuring and maintaining large programs. (Of course, you *can* do 
large parts of purely functional programming in Erlang.) (This is just 
an impression that I gained, something that somebody with personal 
experience in Erlang should confirm or deny. Hence the "possibly" in the 
first sentence of this paragraph.)

4. Some roots in Prolog, which I find... er... disturbing (my personal 
encounters with Prolog were, say, unlucky... its strengths were less 
useful than I had expected, and definitely not worth the weaknesses that 
were the payment for its strengths - IMHO (I never became a Prolog guru)).


Note that all of the above points might be considered irrelevant, a 
showstopper, or even a plus, depending on circumstances, available 
expertise, and personal religion.

Regards,
Joachim

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end of forwarded message.

-- 

natsu-gusa ya   / tsuwamono-domo-ga   / yume no ato
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Summer grasses,
All that remains
Of soldier's dreams
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