[erlang-questions] Any Erlang Devs Contemplating Elixir?

[Garry Hodgson]

In my experience, it isn't the syntax that's hard to learn,
but the concepts. and since most learning material is
(at least so far) in Erlang, having to mentally translate
that to Elixir would seem to make it harder, not easier.

But I may not be representative. Last time I counted I've
used around 40 languages in anger over the years, yet
I find Ruby bewildering.

On 02/26/2016 02:18 PM, Andrew Berman wrote:
> Hey Garrett,
>
> I've watched your talk a couple times before, great stuff, thank you for
> posting that.
>
> Yes, I'd say that adoption is definitely something I am concerned about.  I
> have to sometimes put on my technical hiring hat and step back from the
> fact that I think Erlang is incredible and that I don't have an issue with
> the syntax.  However, I am going to eventually try to build a team (ideally
> very lean like WhatsApp) and with lots and lots of devs familiar with Ruby
> or Javascript and their related tools and frameworks, Elixir seems like a
> stepping stone for those devs into the Erlang world.  I totally agree with
> many on this list that a great programmer can learn any language, but
> sometimes it's difficult to find those people in a reasonable time frame,
> especially when you're trying to light things up quickly as a startup.
>
> I definitely have not counted out moving forward with Erlang, which is
> really why I just wanted to get a sense of what people on this mailing list
> thought of Elixir.  I'm leaning towards Erlang because I know that I
> personally can move quicker, but it can't always be about me :-)
>
> On Fri, Feb 26, 2016 at 10:44 AM Garrett Smith <g@REDACTED> wrote:
>
>> I just started a new project and momentarily had a very short thought that
>> I might use Elixir. My crusty old engineering persona took over and started
>> asking questions like, "why would you do that?" - then I got back to work
>> building software.
>>
>> I strongly prefer the Erlang syntax over Elixir, especially for actual
>> functional programming.
>>
>> I've have had a problem getting colleagues to adopt into Erlang, and I
>> believe I have a handle on why [1]. I think there are some solid answers to
>> "why use Elixir" if you're considering the problem of adoption. If you are
>> working alone or in a small team that is already proficient using Erlang, I
>> personally would just go and start your work and be happy you aren't being
>> forced to use Java, or Ruby, or Node.
>>
>> How many bridges did I burn here?
>>
>> [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MvKLOecT1I
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 26, 2016 at 12:28 PM Andrew Berman <rexxe98@REDACTED> wrote:
>>
>>> Hey Fellow Erlangers,
>>>
>>> I was curious if any of you guys have switched or are contemplating using
>>> Elixir for your next project. I've been programming Erlang for a while now,
>>> but I'm about to start a new project and wanted to see where other Erlang
>>> devs stood on it.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Andrew
>>>
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>
>
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-- 
Garry Hodgson
Lead Member of Technical Staff
AT&T Chief Security Office (CSO)

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