Welcome to the series “Elixir, 7 Steps to Start Your Journey”, dedicated to those who want to learn more about this programming language and its advantages.

If you still don’t have much experience in the world of programming, this Elixir introduction can be a great option to get started in functional programming. If you have already experimented with other programming languages, not only will it be easier for you, but I am sure that you will find the differences between programming paradigms interesting.

In any case, this series aims to help you have fun exploring Elixir and find enough reasons to choose it for your next project. I hope you enjoy it!

Why a series dedicated to Elixir?

Before fully entering the topic, I’ll share a little about my experience with Elixir and why I decided to write this series.

I discovered Elixir in 2018, I would say, by chance. Someone told me about this programming language and how wonderful it was. At that time, I had no idea, nor had I had any contact with functional programming beyond university internships. However, a few months later, ElixirConf took place in Mexico, so I attended to learn more about this technology.

The first thing that captivated me was how friendly the community was. Everyone was relaxed, having a lot of fun and sharing. The atmosphere was incredible. So, I joined this world and started collaborating on my first project with Elixir.

The start of the journey

At first, I didn’t have a good time since the project level was not that simple. 

The project used Phoenix Channels, and until then, I had not been involved in a project with real-time communication features. But to my surprise, it didn’t take me that long to understand how everything fits together; the code patterns were intuitive, there was a lot of documentation available, the syntax was lovely, and there were no files with hundreds of thousands of lines of code that made them difficult to understand.

Many years have passed since that beginning, and I continue to enjoy programming with Elixir and being surprised by all the new things emerging in this community. So, I decided to write a series of posts to share these experiences that I hope will be helpful to those who are just getting to know this programming language. Spoiler: you won’t regret it.

That being said, let’s talk about Elixir.

Let’s talk about Elixir!

“Elixir is a dynamic, functional language for building scalable and maintainable applications.”

José Valim created it in 2012, and version 1.0 was released in 2014. As you can see, it is a relatively young programming language supported by an excellent foundation, the BEAM.

Elixir runs on the Erlang virtual machine known as BEAM. Some features of this machine are:

• Simultaneously, it supports millions of users and transactions.
• It has a mechanism to detect failures and recover from them.
• It allows you to develop systems capable of operating without interruptions forever!
• Allows real-time system updates without stopping or interrupting user activity.

All these properties are transmitted to Elixir; plus, as I mentioned before, the syntax is quite intuitive and pleasant, and many resources are available, so creating a project from scratch to start experimenting will be a piece of cake.

It’s been a short introduction, so for now, it’s okay if you’re not sure what role BEAM plays in this series. In the next chapter, we will delve into it.

We only have to consider when we talk about Elixir;  it is also essential to know the fundamentals that make this programming language such a solid and reliable option. And if you don’t have much experience with functional programming, don’t worry; Elixir will help you understand the concepts while putting them into practice.

What topics will the series cover?

This series will cover the essential topics to help you develop a project from scratch and understand what is behind Elixir’s magic. 

The chapters will be divided as follows:

1. Erlang Virtual Machine, the BEAM
2. Understanding Processes and Concurrency
3. Libraries and Frameworks
4. Testing and Debugging
5. The Elixir Community
6. Functional Programming vs. Object-Oriented Programming
7. My first project with Elixir!

Is this series for me?

This series is for you if you:

•  Are starting in the web programming world and don’t know which language to choose as your first option.
• Already have programming experience, but want to explore new options and learn more about functional programming.

Or if you are simply looking for a programming language that allows you to learn and have fun at the same time.

Next chapter

In the next post, “Erlang Virtual Machine, the BEAM”, we will talk about Erlang, the elements that make the BEAM so powerful, and how Elixir benefits from it. Don’t miss it! In the meantime, drop the team a message if you would like a further Elixir introduction.