[kasey_junk]

> Erlang generally encourages shared-nothing architectures.

This is the language feature that `pron` keeps mentioning. Nothing about the VM is especially better for this than the JVM for instance.

> I see nothing wrong with ETS, it's well optimized for the Erlang term format in particular and gives you serializable updates.

There isn't anything wrong with it (as a complete neophyte to ETS and the EVM generally), the question is how much better it could be if it was on one of the several first rate JVMs that get so much more resources poured into them. Sharing data concurrently is precisely what the JVM is good at (especially at very large data set size). So in the cases where you need to use something like ETS, there is a lot of potential for improvement on a JVM vs EVM.

> But it's already there in a cohesive whole. There is absolutely no reason to switch to the JVM when the EVM is a beast of its own.

I don't want to speak for `pron` but I suspect what he is getting at is, the combination of the Erlang full story on the JVM would be a phenomenal bit of tech and it would be much easier (and more likely) for the Erlang bits to get ported to the JVM than it would be to bring the EVM up to the standard of any of the best JVMs.

[Ixiaus]

It would be a phenomenal bit of tech anywhere. We had to go with Erlang for one piece of our product at Plum precisely because there is no analog story in Haskell to the Erlang full story. I would have loved to be able to build that specific piece in Haskell but it made little sense when considering what Erlang/OTP provides.

It's nice to say that the JVM has more resources and is better at XYZ while the BEAM VM is only better at ABC, therefore the Erlang full story should be on the JVM to reap the benefits of both; however, I think that would be unhealthy for Erlang. Different VMs present specialized focuses and I think the areas that BEAM is lacking in can be tackled and brought up to parity instead homogenizing the VM-field and adding to the kitchen-sink that the JVM already is.

[pron]

I think the areas that BEAM is lacking in can be tackled and brought up to parity

Probably. But why not spend that effort on the language and libraries?

instead of homogenizing the VM-field

That makes as much sense as saying your language shouldn't run on the kitchen-sink Linux so as not to homogenized the OS field.

[Ixiaus]

> Probably. But why not spend that effort on the language and libraries?

Because the best Erlang has to offer isn't really in the Language. Some in the Libraries. Most in its VM. I would pick Haskell or ATS over Erlang - unless I need those few unique features that Erlang/OTP really got right.

> That makes as much sense as saying your language shouldn't run on the kitchen-sink Linux so as not to homogenized the OS field.

No, your analogy is moving the goal post. No one ever said someone couldn't implement Erlang the language for the JVM. As many people have pointed out to you, it isn't the language that makes Erlang. It's BEAM + OTP. We're not talking about moving the language around, we're talking about gutting the VM, my statement still holds: Exalting the JVM to be the one-true-VM for Erlang (therefore also implying any language you do not understand well that needs a VM) is a very bad idea and pretty silly.

Diversity is good. BEAM's VM is good. The JVM is good. Even the CLR is pretty amazing (F# beats the pants off of Scala). There's no reason at all to think that Erlang would be better off on the JVM; however, borrowing successful ideas from other awesome and successful technologies? I think that's a swell path to walk. Beware of the kitchen sink, though, is my only warning.

Also, I don't always think OS' are the best place to run your application. There are many arguments for using something like Erlang on Xen or HaLVM if the design requirements can justify it but arguing about your other critical statement should be a different thread.

[nickpsecurity]

Good points. Monoculture hurts us. BEAM people could be putting more effort into copying improvements in competition and academia. That would get BEAM performance way up there. Right now, they seem to focus more on other things with BEAM performing good enough for its users. With the diversity benefit on the side.

[Ixiaus]

You would be surprised, actually. I think there's quite a bit of work going into BEAMJIT, an LLVM based JIT for Erlang that far exceeds HiPE. I won't argue with you though that the VM could use improvements gleaned from the last ten-fifteen years of implementation and research.

[nickpsecurity]

To me, it really just seems like a difference in labor and time. BEAM doesn't have nearly as much investment of brainpower going into it. It's also been mainstream for much less time. There's less corporate R&D working on it. So, we'll see things progress more slowly and it be behind in various ways until some of this changes.

True for most stuff out there that's not the No 1 or No 2 choice for mainstream developers. Yet, results such as HipHop and PyPy show vast improvement can be made when even one company puts a lot of effort into something. A combo of academics applying to Erlang/BEAM the best in FP compilation and best in VM architecture might bring similarly dramatic improvements. A good precedent is how I saw the Racket Scheme team knock out significant weaknesses in their compiler practically as they were posted on forums. Not saying it always happens but that sort of thing in Erlang space would be interesting.

[pron]

Just to clarify, when I say Erlang should run on the JVM, I obviously mean Erlang +OTP.