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Introducing Erlang: Getting Started in Functional Programming
If you’re new to Erlang, its functional style can seem difficult, but with help from this hands-on introduction, you’ll scale the learning curve and discover how enjoyable, powerful, and fun this language can be. Author Simon St. Laurent shows you how to write simple Erlang programs by teaching you one basic skill at a time. You’ll learn about pattern matching, recursion, message passing, process-oriented programming, and establishing pathways for data rather than telling it where to go. By the end of your journey, you’ll understand why Erlang is ideal for concurrency and resilience.
205 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 22, 2012
13 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Simon St. Laurent
25 books4 followersSimon St. Laurent is a Content Manager at LinkedIn Learning, focusing primarily on front-end web projects. He has been co-chair of the Fluent conference and of OSCON. He's authored or co-authored books including Introducing Elixir, Introducing Erlang, Learning Rails 3, XML Pocket Reference, 3rd, XML: A Primer, and Cookies.
You can find more of his writing on technology, Quakerism, and the Town of Dryden at simonstl.com.
You can find more of his writing on technology, Quakerism, and the Town of Dryden at simonstl.com.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 8, 2012
Erlang has always seemed like a kind of mythical, untouchable monster for me after reading the Prolog and Erlang chapters of Seven Languages in Seven Weeks (highly recommended).
This is one of those books that works perfectly for the way I think. One of the hardest things for me when learning a new language is not having any idea where to start. This is compounded when the language is so alien. This book has made me look forward to learning Erlang, even if I never write a line of production code in my life.
I have been using things I have learned from this book in my Ruby code :P
UPDATE:
I finished the book a bit ago and now am really enjoying reading some Erlang code bases like CouchDB, Riak and Webmachine. This is what I was going for so I am happy.
One negative is that there is nowhere in the book where it is explained how to structure an actual application. Reading source code and Makefiles you can get an idea, but this is something that would complete the book. Though the book is in Beta and incomplete so maybe we will see this in the near future.
This is one of those books that works perfectly for the way I think. One of the hardest things for me when learning a new language is not having any idea where to start. This is compounded when the language is so alien. This book has made me look forward to learning Erlang, even if I never write a line of production code in my life.
I have been using things I have learned from this book in my Ruby code :P
UPDATE:
I finished the book a bit ago and now am really enjoying reading some Erlang code bases like CouchDB, Riak and Webmachine. This is what I was going for so I am happy.
One negative is that there is nowhere in the book where it is explained how to structure an actual application. Reading source code and Makefiles you can get an idea, but this is something that would complete the book. Though the book is in Beta and incomplete so maybe we will see this in the near future.
March 26, 2017
Lectura amena y contenido práctico
Estructurado de forma simple, va gradualmente incorporando conceptos que pueden llevarse a la práctica de inmediato. Una forma de engancharse en el mundo Erlang.
Estructurado de forma simple, va gradualmente incorporando conceptos que pueden llevarse a la práctica de inmediato. Una forma de engancharse en el mundo Erlang.
March 19, 2015
Not bad. A whirlwind tour with easy to work code samples. I've bought the #erlang Kool Aid. Time to pounce on the next roject.
August 5, 2020
Again, an "Introducing" book that one shouldn't expect some deep explanations, but heck, this felt shallower than Introducing Elixir.
It follows the same path of the "Introducing Elixir" (or maybe it is the other way around, but hey, that's the order I read both), by creating a "what speed will something crash if dropped in different planets" library and exploring changes.
But the biggest drawback is that the book sticks too much into the Erlang Shell and absolutely nothing (besides "here is one thing you can search for") outside it. I mean, sure, the language may be nice and fun and all that, but what's the point if the build tool is a pain and dependency resolution is inexistent -- and I'm not saying Erlang suffers from that, 'cause as a learning path, the book says nothing about those things.
For seeing how the language looks like, it's a good book. For something more real... far away from it.
It follows the same path of the "Introducing Elixir" (or maybe it is the other way around, but hey, that's the order I read both), by creating a "what speed will something crash if dropped in different planets" library and exploring changes.
But the biggest drawback is that the book sticks too much into the Erlang Shell and absolutely nothing (besides "here is one thing you can search for") outside it. I mean, sure, the language may be nice and fun and all that, but what's the point if the build tool is a pain and dependency resolution is inexistent -- and I'm not saying Erlang suffers from that, 'cause as a learning path, the book says nothing about those things.
For seeing how the language looks like, it's a good book. For something more real... far away from it.
August 3, 2021
I advise every novice Erlang programmer to read this book. The author is a master of his craft - a professional writer. Read his books - a pleasure - a clear structure, clear thinking, clear text.
After reading the book, it becomes clear what the Erlang programming language is and you can outline the paths of your professional development in it. I would very much like to see the author continued to write about Erlang, as language develops, and there are interesting possibilities.
I liked the book so much that I even decided to translate it into my native language - Russian (with the permission of the publisher, I published my translation).
https://github.com/rustkas/Introducin...
After reading the book, it becomes clear what the Erlang programming language is and you can outline the paths of your professional development in it. I would very much like to see the author continued to write about Erlang, as language develops, and there are interesting possibilities.
I liked the book so much that I even decided to translate it into my native language - Russian (with the permission of the publisher, I published my translation).
https://github.com/rustkas/Introducin...
January 1, 2022
One of the best introductions to Erlang. Very short and easy read, despite the fact that some chapters are a little bit shallows.
August 28, 2016
Quite good introduction to Erlang and functional programming. Cover most part of programming in Erlang(including Mnesia database, debuger, OTP etc).
Should be used as a introduction to this topic.
Should be used as a introduction to this topic.
October 23, 2018
A nice introduction to the Erlang language with some code examples that make it easier to follow the explanations. The book does not go into depth with the intricacies of the platform, but provides a lot of links and references to help the reader to go further if interested.
July 26, 2019
Not the best book about Erlang, I think. But it is good enough to understand if you interested in this language or not.
May 18, 2021
very concise and chaotic content
there is even no mention about integration with the code on plain C
there is even no mention about integration with the code on plain C
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews