[erlang-questions] node.js vs erlang

[Roger Lipscombe]

On 19 June 2014 11:53, John Kemp <john@REDACTED> wrote:
> I try to regularly evaluate new languages and platforms to use, and I doubt
> I'm the only person who does that.

No, you're not the only person who does that. But I think you're
massively underestimating the number of people who *don't* look at new
languages and platforms; or the people who look at a new language or
platform, hit one speed bump and give up on it.

We can't do anything about the first group -- they've learned their
one language and they're sticking to it -- but we can certainly make
it easier for the second group to evaluate Erlang.

How we do that is the tricky part, and I don't think there's a
one-size-fits-all solution. Different people learn in different ways.

I like to learn by taking a simple example, playing with it, taking it
apart and seeing how it works, while dipping into the books,
documentation and man pages occasionally. Others like to do a bunch of
reading up, and _then_ go and play. Still others prefer watching
videos to learn things -- personally I find it impossible to learn
from a video -- but it works for a large number of people.