3) ElixirConfEU 2019 - Let there be light from nothing to a running application - Michał Muskała

Michał Muskała - Let there be light from nothing to a running application - ElixirConfEU 2019

@michalmuskala - Elixir Core Team member, Hammer Corp

Let there be light: from nothing to a running application

Talk in three words: internals, virtual machine, exploration

Abstract
In this talk we’re going to explore the boot process of the Erlang virtual machine. We’ll trace the code path from the beginning of the C main function until the Application.start/2 callback is executed. We’ll see how the C code interacts with the Erlang code, how the Erlang code is loaded, what is the first Erlang code to run, and finally how applications are started.

Objectives
To show how to explore the source code of Erlang/OTP, explain the boot process itself, spread the love for the low-level things and inspire new contributors to the VM. Audience The talk will appeal to Elixir programmers who are curious about the virtual machine, the internals and why applications work the way they do. Some rudimentary knowledge of C, Elixir and Erlang will be assumed.

The speaker
Software engineer, open-source developer, speaker and trainer. Michał is an Elixir Core Team member focusing on virtual machine, compiler and performance. As a developer and contractor in Elixir and Erlang he has faced many interesting issues. He’s also a co-maintainer of Ecto and some other Elixir open source projects. When not programming, he enjoys reading, travelling, and sailing - no matter if it’s sunny, rainy or stormy. It’s even better if all of those are combined!

All will be added to the ElixirConf EU 2019 Talks List or via the #elixirConfEU2019 tag.

5 Likes

I highly recommend this talk even if you’re not specifically interested in how VMs work. It’s just so interesting to get some insight into the magic involved in starting erlang/elixir.

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