ysfylcn26
Hi all,
İ started to learn elixir so that i am new for functional programing. I wonder one thing. Elixir does immutable everything. But I try some examples.
def boxes(total) do
size_50 = div(total, 50)
total = rem(total, 50)
{“big: #{size_50} total: #{total}”}
end
I created named function and i get one input. But i can change total variable. This dont throw error because of immutable variables. Why?
Where Next?
Trending in Questions
Other Trending Topics
Latest on Elixir Forum
Sponsor Spotlight
Master modern tools, write cleaner code, and tackle real-world challenges with Manning books, videos, and courses. Start building today.
Categories:
Sub Categories:
Forums
Popular Tags
- #ecto
- #liveview
- #troubleshooting
- #learning-elixir
- #library
- #deployment
- #erlang
- #testing
- #genserver
- #mix
- #absinthe
- #remote-other
- #otp
- #plug
- #how-to-question
- #macros
- #postgres
- #elixirconf
- #channels
- #exunit
- #discussion
- #code-sync
- #podcasts
- #javascript
- #onsite
- #dialyzer
- #docker
- #authentication
- #umbrella
- #full-time-contract
- #podcasts-by-brainlid
- #ai
- #ecto-query
- #elixirconf-us
- #blog-post
- #elixir-ls
- #phoenix_html
- #iex
- #graphql
- #genstage
- #websockets
- #supervisor
- #advent-of-code
- #distillery
- #processes
- #elixirconf-eu
- #api
- #forms
- #security
- #metaprogramming
Our Sponsors
Build Elixir applications with speed and confidence.
Supporting innovation across the BEAM ecosystem.
We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.
Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.
Elixir, Erlang & BEAM conferences from Code Sync - join us in 2026!
Master modern tools, write cleaner code, and tackle real-world challenges.
**Building the future of software with AI, trust, and human connection.**
The deployment platform built for Elixir: PaaS ease, VPS control.
The team behind Membrane, Popcorn, LiveDebugger. Available for hire.
Courses that'll move you from confusion to "Aha, now I get it!"
Showing Posts 7 to 1- Show Best Posts
- Show All (oldest first)
- Show All (newest first)
rvirding
Yes, I think the easiest way to understand is that an Elixir variable is just a reference to the data and not the data itself. C programmers can see it as a pointer to the data not the data itself.
So when you do
x = {1, 2}and then
x = {:a, :b}you are first referring the variable
xto the tuple{1, 2}and then referringxto another tuple{:a, ·b}but you have NOT modified the tuples themselves. This is where the data immutability comes in as you actually CANNOT modify the tuples, or any other data for that matter. So the{:a, :b}is always the tuple{:a, :b}for as long as it exists.This is a problem that people coming from imperative languages often run into as it very much affects HOW you work with data.
ysfylcn26
I really have to be more careful
kokolegorille
It is backtick ```, not ´´´
ysfylcn26
Thnak you. i will be more careful with ´´´ after now
dimitarvp
You change the contents of the variable. The variable name is just an alias for the new contents.
BartOtten
kokolegorille
Hello and welcome,
You cannot really change the variable, but You can rebind it.
It’s an Elixir compromise, that You won’t find in Erlang.
Under the hood it’s doing total_0, total_1, total_2 etc.
Please don’t forget to wrap your code with ``` to make it more readable, as in markdown
BTW It’s usually a good practice to avoid intermediate variables, and use pipe |> whenever You can.