Elixir

Description #

Elixir is a functional, concurrent language built on top of Erlang’s BEAM virtual machine. It brings modern syntax, metaprogramming, and productivity to the rock-solid reliability and scalability of the Erlang ecosystem, making it ideal for web services, real-time apps, and distributed systems.

History #

Elixir was created by José Valim in 2011 to modernize and extend the power of Erlang with a more accessible syntax. It gained popularity quickly, especially through the Phoenix web framework, and has become a top choice for scalable, fault-tolerant applications.

Hello World Code #

IO.puts("Hello, World!")

How to Run #

Option 1: Online

• Replit – Elixir
• Paiza.IO – Elixir

Option 2: Local

1. Install Elixir:

brew install elixir   # macOS
sudo apt install elixir  # Linux

Save code in hello.exs and run:

elixir hello.exs

Key Concepts #

1. Functional and immutable by default
2. Built on the Erlang BEAM VM
3. Actor-based concurrency (lightweight processes)
4. Pattern matching
5. Fault-tolerant supervision trees
6. Metaprogramming with macros
7. Mix build tool and dependencies
8. Hot code swapping
9. Excellent for real-time systems
10. Phoenix framework for web development

Try It Online #

• Replit – Elixir
• Paiza.IO – Elixir

Fun Facts #

• Elixir and Phoenix can handle millions of concurrent web connections.
• The creator, José Valim, was also a key contributor to the Ruby on Rails framework.
• Elixir is often praised for its developer experience, readable syntax, and community.

Resources #

• Elixir Official Site
• Elixir School (Free Lessons)
• Programming Elixir (Book)
• GitHub – Elixir Lang