In this post, I go into details of how to create a web app in Elixir using Cowboy server. Though it might look unrelated to a book on Phoenix, it’s very much related on the contrary. Understanding how Cowboy works and to start using it in your Elixir app goes a long way into understanding many of the concepts of Phoenix. It also helps you to trust and appreciate the design of Phoenix framework.
Number of pages: Not sure. Also I believe it depends on how the layout/format is being done. But in general, it should be comparable to the size of Programming Phoenix or Rails Tutorial.
Topics are not fully finalised and written. But the approach I have taken is
I am addressing only people who are already familiar with MVC and have worked with frameworks like Rails. This helps me to avoid explaining what MVC or basic stuffs around MVC.
I follow the method of full immersion like how many (human) language learning app is designed. I show you the code even before explaining it and give you a chance to decipher for yourself before I start explaining each of them.
I focus on getting a wholesome knowledge on Phoenix from reading this book. By wholesome I mean, a Rails dev picking up this book should feel comfortable to read minimal Elixir required for working with Phoenix, understand Phoenix/Plug magics, know the basics of Brunch and asset management, server requirements and deployment.
As part of my book on Phoenix 1.3, I have published a code repo demonstrating a minimal rebuild of Phoenix to understand various components of Phoenix, Plug, Cowboy.
The repo doesn’t have a lot of code explanations (that comes in the book). However, any curious mind can quickly go through the commit history and see what is happening.
I am planning to release by this month end. But can get delayed if things don’t work as planned. Also most of the topics covered are different from what Programming Phoenix covers to avoid overlaps.
Good catch.
