Elixir (programming language)
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| Paradigm | multi-paradigm: functional, concurrent, process-oriented, homoiconic |
|---|---|
| First appeared | 2012 |
| Stable release | 1.0.0
|
| Typing discipline | dynamic, strong |
| Platform | Erlang |
| License | Apache License |
| Filename extensions | .ex, .exs |
| Website | www |
| Influenced by | |
| Erlang, Ruby, Clojure | |
Elixir is a functional, concurrent, general-purpose programming language built atop the Erlang Virtual Machine (BEAM). Elixir builds on top of Erlang to provide distributed, fault-tolerant, soft real-time, non-stop applications but also extends it to support meta-programming with macros and polymorphism via protocols.[1]
History
José Valim is the creator of the Elixir programming language. His goals were to enable higher extensibility and productivity in the Erlang VM while keeping compatibility with Erlang's tools and ecosystem.[2]
Features
- A language that compiles to byte code for the Erlang Virtual Machine (BEAM)[3]
- Everything is an expression[3]
- Erlang functions can be called from Elixir without runtime impact, due to compilation to Erlang byte code, and vice versa
- Meta programming allowing direct manipulation of AST[3]
- Polymorphism via a mechanism called protocols. Enumerable is an example of a protocol, and is inspired by Clojure reducers [4]
- Support for documentation via Python-like docstrings in the Markdown formatting language [3]
- Shared nothing concurrent programming via message passing (Actor model)
- Emphasis on recursion and higher-order functions instead of side-effect-based looping
- Lightweight concurrency utilizing Erlang's mechanisms with simplified syntax (e.g. Task)[3]
- Lazy and async collections with streams
- Pattern matching [3]
- Unicode support and UTF-8 strings
References
External links
- Elixir language website
- Code on GitHub
- Elixir - A modern approach to programming for the Erlang VM video presentation
- Dave Thomas: "Programming Elixir: Functional |> Concurrent |> Pragmatic |> Fun" (book)
- Simon St. Laurent, J. David Eisenberg: "Introducing Elixir" (book)
- Joe Armstrong: "A Week with Elixir" (blog entry)
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