CIO looking for elixir help

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1

I am working at a startup as a CIO. We use elixir and I am just learning it. I would love to hear your experiences. Nice to haves what makes a developer’s life easier. Any suggested readings?

2

Heyo :waving_hand:

There have been some case studies of companies adopting Elixir published on Elixir’s site. That would be a great place to start.

I can tell you from my own experience, and 3 other companies I’ve worked with that adopted Elixir, that it was the best decision for the developers. It’s extremely productive, very fast and efficient on resources, the documentation is first-class, and has a really bright future.

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Not sure on a great write-up, would be curious myself to read about the dev setup that José or Chris are using. But this podcast is covering tooling a bit on it’s second part: Spotify

The most productive tools:

  • Use Microsoft Visual Code and ElixirLS. ElixirLS still is hogging cpu from time to time but it’s providing the best experience by a lot.
  • Use MacOS or Linux - Windows development still has more hassles
  • Use mix format best in a pre-commit hook to enforce standard Elixir code formatting and never again have to discuss this topic :heart_eyes:
  • Use asdf, kerl, docker, brew or apt to install and switch between versions. Myself I’m not needing to jump a lot between versions and so I’m just using the erlang solutions distribution of Elixir and use apt install elixir=<vsn> if I really need to switch. Erlang and Elixir Packages Download - Erlang Solutions
  • Docs: I’m using Zeal to browse docs offline for core Erlang and Elixir and mostly hexdocs and ElixirLS autocomplete for other libraries. Not sure what others do. https://zealdocs.org/
4

There is a lot of learning material available for Elixir if your just getting started.
Since you’re a CIO, your time might be very precious.
I would recommend filtered list of these 3 things:

  1. Official Documentation (Online + via iex)
  2. Dave Thomas’s Elixir Course
  3. Pragmatic Studio’s Elixir + OTP Course
5

The PragProgs have a book specifically targeted at this exact situation:

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6

Thanks Matt. That was the first book the founder of our company gave me! It was really helpful.

7

Thanks! I will check them out!

8

The new tool does look interesting. Any news on the dev setup from Jose and Chris? Thanks for the list of tools I will be checking them out.

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Thanks David. I keep hearing that elixir is the way to go. Each adoption story more positive then the next.