Learning Elixir, frst impressions ( plz don't kill me ! )

[AstonJ]

@Fl4m3Ph03n1x

Let’s just say that my direct approach and my sense of humor don’t always find the best friends in forums.

Generally if you are having a serious discussion, or with people you don’t know, it’s usually best to avoid humour - unless you’re certain it won’t be taken the wrong way. (Going by your comment above though, it appears this isn’t the case in your experience… that should probably be telling you something )

I’m also struggling to see what the purpose of this thread is. Are you trying to point out that Elixir is ‘different’, lacks some FP stuff, is peculiar in places? If so you’re not telling us anything we don’t know.

As has been pointed out by others, Elixir is not trying to be like Haskell (or other similar languages). It is at its most basic, simply trying to be a modern version of Erlang with some key influences from Ruby and other languages thrown in. Erlang itself was built with a very specific job in mind - one that it excels at. You could argue that Elixir is merely trying to be as close to a perfect language as its creator wanted - constraints allowing. It just happens that so many of us love it as well, warts and all.

If you’re wondering why, take a look at this thread:

Why Elixir?

It’s been a couple of years since we’ve had a thread like this, so here’s the 2018 edition Why are you using (or loving!) Elixir in 2018? Which resources do you recommend that do a good job of highlighting the benefits of Elixir?

And then if you are still excited about the language, I recommend learning it by reading some of the excellent books available - here are some recommendations based on what I have read or done myself, although there are of course many more (see: Books and Courses)…

• Programming Elixir (Pragprog)
• Elixir In Action (Manning)
• Elixir for Programmers (PragDave)
• Learn Functional Programming with Elixir (Pragprog)
• Programming Phoenix (Pragprog)

If after reading the Why Elixir? thread you’re not enthused or you feel the language is not for you - that’s cool too. Good luck on whatever you decide to adopt.

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As a general note, if you’re new to a community it’s a good idea to put yourself in the shoes of others - and ask yourself how your comments/thread might come across. If you’re genuinely interested in helping the language, or hearing the thoughts of others, diplomacy and tact (not humour and unfair or immaterial critique) is usually the best way to achieve your goal.