Elixir is a functional, concurrent, general-purpose programming language that runs on the Erlang virtual machine (BEAM).
Elixir also provides a productive tooling (Mix build tool, interactive shell)and an extensible design (scalability, fault-tolerance).
Instead of thinking of object, you think of little easy to test process that you spawn and kill when needed.
Go to elixir-lang.org and install elixir following the instruction, on MacOS with brew:
brew install elixir
Elixir has an interactive prompt called iex that you can try on the commad line. To quit the iex use [command] + [c] then [a].
To run a script try with:
elixir hello.exsTo compile your module you should use elixirc such as
elixirc hello.exsMix is a development tool for Elixir that help kick start an Elixir project:
mix new demoBefore running a project you might want to update all dependency using:
mix deps.getAnd a project will be generated. To test your mix project try using:
mix testHowever is you want to use your project functions in the iex, go in your root folder and run:
# The -S is for source
iex -S mixIt is adviced to follow the Mix structure in order to organise your files, ie:
- The package script should be in
lib - The test files of the scripts in
test - Configuration settings in
config
For the other folder, usually they are populated dynamically:
depsis for installed dependencies_buildis the compiled sources of your projectdocis for documentation that can be generated with ExDoc
mix docsThe package can be installed
by adding the package name to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:
def deps do
[
{:demo, "~> 0.1.0"}
]
endPackage can be either download from repository or directly fron Hex
Mix projects are hosted on Hex. To get started, you will need to install hex using:
mix local.hexThen you will need an account:
mix hex.user registerThen follow the procedure to add the correct metadata to your mix.exs so that you can finally publish it:
mix hex.publishThere are no multiple comments line. A comments starts like in python with #
# Will print Hello world
IO.puts "Hello world"What is the difference between .ex and .exs:
- The
exis compiled to the erlang.beamcode - The
.exsis more of a script that is compiled just-in-time.