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Danny Puttock

Mar 01, 2023

Edited: Mar 03, 2023

The Benefits of using Elixir

in The Beam It Live Forum

Ever since it's invention, way back in 2011 before it's release in 2012, Elixir has become the popular choice of language to use in Software Development.

Here, I run through a few of the benefits of using Elixir as opposed to using any of the others.

Reliability

Elixir is built on Erlang, which is well known as a battle-proven language with an unmatched reliability on fault tolerance to the two main programming mistakes, which are issues which happen outside apps (networks etc) and by internal issues (wrong data etc). Through using Elixir you can create apps and systems which don't require human intervention when it comes to handling runtime errors automatically and prevents systems from going down. Using Elixir you can even design systems that can run through caches even if the database is unavailable.

Concurrency

The level of concurrency is one of the best features of Elixir. The high concurrency allows the ability to execute multiple tasks at the same time, most of the time to extreme levels! The concurrency in Elixir is maintained through Actors, a single-threaded contained process that can deliver and receive messages among themselves. They don't share memory and communicate through asynchronous message passing.

Speed

Elixir is a very fast language which creates smaller file spaces and improves the speed of APIs. It also integrates into the BEAM byte code and gets all the speed benefits of Erlang without the same performance issues. Elixir is considered to be faster than other languages such as Ruby and NodeJS making it highly suitable for application development and server design.

Productivity

Due to Elixir's clean syntax, it makes it easier to write clean and understandable code, without using too much of the time and productivity of a developer or engineer.

Overall, Elixir has more benefits than disadvantages, and is going from strength to strength in it's use and popularity, and is gradually becoming the number one choice

Sources: https://www.bairesdev.com/elixir/ https://mlsdev.com/blog/elixir-programming-facts-to-know-for-better-app-development

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Interview Tips and Tricks

Always do your research on who you are interviewing with, what is their background and is there any commonalities you can discuss?
Research the company in lots of detail, find out more about what they do, their history and who they have in their team
Build a question list before the interview, ensure before you leave you have every question clarified to make your decision easier
Show your passion for Erlang and Elixir. Have you done work outside of your role with the Beam community? Do you have any white-papers or a Github profile to share?
Pick examples of projects you have worked on and revise these before your interview. Ensure you have clear examples to discuss when asked.

A good article read is via Kamil Lelonek here; https://blog.lelonek.me/how-to-find-an-elixir-job-db4c836890

Elixir vs Erlang

Elixir vs Erlang: What are the differences?

Elixir: Dynamic, functional language designed for building scalable and maintainable applications. Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain;
Erlang: A programming language used to build massively scalable soft real-time systems with requirements on high availability. Some of Erlang's uses are in telecoms, banking, e-commerce, computer telephony and instant messaging. Erlang's runtime system has built-in support for concurrency, distribution and fault tolerance. OTP is set of Erlang libraries and design principles providing middle-ware to develop these systems.

A good article to read on this topic is here from Kerry Doyle; https://searchapparchitecture.techtarget.com/tip/A-concurrent-programming-faceoff-Erlang-vs-Elixir

Hiring Trends throughout 2021

The Elixir and Erlang stack makes up about 2% of the global development needs that organisations have and there is currently 180.6k active listings for Erlang and Elixir roles. Elixir has a thriving community continues to grow, with fantastic events such as ElixirConf in Europe and in the US, EMPEX, Code Elixir LDN and Gig City Elixir, as well as Meetups all around the world, with the demand for Elixir/Erlang online courses rising 6% in 2020.

A good way of tracking these trends is an article here by Stacktrends; https://stacktrends.dev/technologies/programming-languages/erlang/