Elixir (programming language)

José Valim created the Elixir programming language as a research and development project at Plataformatec. His goals were to enable higher extensibility and productivity in the Erlang VM while maintaining compatibility with Erlang's ecosystem.{{ cite AV media |url=http://vimeo.com/53221562|title=Elixir - A modern approach to programming for the Erlang VM | access-date=2013-02-17}}{{ cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZvpKhA6t8A| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/IZvpKhA6t8A| archive-date=2021-11-17 | url-status=live|title=José Valim - ElixirConf EU 2017 Keynote | access-date=2017-07-14}}{{cbignore}}

Elixir is aimed at large-scale sites and apps. It uses features of Ruby, Erlang, and Clojure to develop a high-concurrency and low-latency language. It was designed to handle large data volumes. Elixir is also used in telecommunications, e-commerce, and finance.{{ cite web |url=https://www.welcometothejungle.com/en/articles/btc-elixir-jose-valim/|title=Behinde the code: The One Who Created Elixir | access-date=2019-11-25}}

In 2021, the Numerical Elixir effort was announced with the goal of bringing machine learning, neural networks, GPU compilation, data processing, and computational notebooks to the Elixir ecosystem.{{Cite web|title = Numerical Elixir (Nx)| website=GitHub |url = https://github.com/elixir-nx|access-date = 2024-05-06}}

Each of the minor versions supports a specific range of Erlang/OTP versions.{{Citation|title=Elixir is a dynamic, functional language designed for building scalable and maintainable applications: elixir-lang/elixir|date=2019-04-21|url=https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir|publisher=Elixir|access-date=2019-04-21}} The current stable release version is {{wikidata|property|edit|reference|P348}}.

• Compiles to bytecode for the BEAM virtual machine of Erlang.{{ cite web |url=https://elixir-lang.org/|title=Elixir | access-date=2014-09-07}} Full interoperability with Erlang code, without runtime impact.
• Scalability and fault-tolerance, thanks to Erlang's lightweight concurrency mechanisms
• Built-in tooling for managing dependencies, code compilation, running tests, formatting code, remote debugging and more.
• An interactive REPL inside running programs, including Phoenix web servers, with code reloading and access to internal state
• Everything is an expression
• Pattern matching to promote assertive code{{Cite web |date=24 September 2014 |title=Writing assertive code with Elixir |url=http://blog.plataformatec.com.br/2014/09/writing-assertive-code-with-elixir/ |access-date=2018-07-05}}
• Type hints for static analysis tools
• Immutable data, with an emphasis, like other functional languages, on recursion and higher-order functions instead of side-effect-based looping
• Shared nothing concurrent programming via message passing (actor model){{cite book |last1=Loder |first1=Wolfgang |url=https://leanpub.com/erlangandelixirforimperativeprogrammers |title=Erlang and Elixir for Imperative Programmers |date=12 May 2015 |publisher=Leanpub |location="Chapter 16: Code Structuring Concepts", section title "Actor Model" |access-date=7 July 2015}}
• Lazy and async collections with streams
• Railway oriented programming via the with construct{{Cite web |last=Wlaschin |first=Scott |date=May 2013 |title=Railway Oriented Programming |url=https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/rop/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130221804/http://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/rop/ |archive-date=30 January 2021 |access-date=28 February 2021 |website=F# for Fun and Profit}}
• Hygienic metaprogramming by direct access to the abstract syntax tree (AST). Libraries often implement small domain-specific languages, such as for databases or testing.
• Code execution at compile time. The Elixir compiler also runs on the BEAM, so modules that are being compiled can immediately run code which has already been compiled.
• Polymorphism via a mechanism called protocols. Dynamic dispatch, as in Clojure, however, without multiple dispatch because Elixir protocols dispatch on a single type.
• Support for documentation via Python-like docstrings in the Markdown formatting language
• Unicode support and UTF-8 strings

The following examples can be run in an iex shell or saved in a file and run from the command line by typing elixir .

Classic Hello world example:

iex> IO.puts("Hello World!")

Hello World!

Pipe operator:

iex> "Elixir" |> String.graphemes() |> Enum.frequencies()

%{"E" => 1, "i" => 2, "l" => 1, "r" => 1, "x" => 1}

iex> %{values: 1..5} |> Map.get(:values) |> Enum.map(& &1 * 2)

[2, 4, 6, 8, 10]

iex> %{values: 1..5} |> Map.get(:values) |> Enum.map(& &1 * 2) |> Enum.sum()

30

Pattern matching (a.k.a. destructuring):

iex> %{left: x} = %{left: 5, right: 8}

iex> x

5

iex> {:ok, [_ | rest]} = {:ok, [1, 2, 3]}

iex> rest

[2, 3]

Pattern matching with multiple clauses:

iex> case File.read("path/to/file") do

iex> {:ok, contents} -> IO.puts("found file: #{contents}")

iex> {:error, reason} -> IO.puts("missing file: #{reason}")

iex> end

List comprehension:

iex> for n <- 1..5, rem(n, 2) == 1, do: n*n

[1, 9, 25]

Asynchronously reading files with streams:

1..5

|> Task.async_stream(&File.read!("#{&1}.txt"))

|> Stream.filter(fn {:ok, contents} -> String.trim(contents) != "" end)

|> Enum.join("\n")

Multiple function bodies with guards:

def fib(n) when n in [0, 1], do: n

def fib(n), do: fib(n-2) + fib(n-1)

Relational databases with the Ecto library:

schema "weather" do

field :city # Defaults to type :string

field :temp_lo, :integer

field :temp_hi, :integer

field :prcp, :float, default: 0.0

end

Weather |> where(city: "Kraków") |> order_by(:temp_lo) |> limit(10) |> Repo.all

Sequentially spawning a thousand processes:

for num <- 1..1000, do: spawn fn -> IO.puts("#{num * 2}") end

Asynchronously performing a task:

task = Task.async fn -> perform_complex_action() end

other_time_consuming_action()

Task.await task

{{cn|date=June 2023}}

{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}

• Concurrent computing
• Distributed computing
• Parallel computing

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Cite book |author1=Simon St. Laurent |author2=J. Eisenberg |date=December 22, 2016 |title=Introducing Elixir: Getting Started in Functional Programming 2nd Edition|publisher=O'Reilly Media |isbn=978-1491956779 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |author=Sasa Juric |date=January 12, 2019 |title=Elixir in Action 2nd Edition |publisher=Manning Publications |isbn=978-1617295027 |language=en}}

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Category:Concurrent programming languages

Category:Functional languages

Category:Pattern matching programming languages

Category:Programming languages

Category:Programming languages created in 2012

Category:Software using the Apache license