[clearing]

It's funny, I set out to learn Erlang this year, but ended up learning Elixir first. A lot of people go to great lengths to assure that Elixir is not the "CoffeeScript of Erlang" (which I do understand refers to more than just syntax improvements), but I found the opposite. After getting used to Elixir syntax, Erlang seems aesthetically much more elegant.

[hderms]

Well it isn't just the CoffeeScript of Erlang for reasons like having better string implementation, macros, subjectively better additions to standard library, protocols, etc...

Whether those reasons are significant enough for you to use Elixir over Erlang are another matter, but it wouldn't be classified as just another CoffeeScript when compared honestly.

[snake117]

Basically this happened to me as well. I was interested in learning Erlang just because it was something different then the plethora of common languages we see and use everyday. But when Phoenix v1.0 was released I jumped on that. It was an interesting experience; I felt like I was working with Rails even though I wasn't. Needless to say, it completely distracted me from actually learning Erlang.

[vezzy-fnord]

Opposite experience here. Having learned Erlang first, I find Elixir's syntax to be a false friend for the semantics of the ERTS. Erlang's syntax also seems to me much better at getting out of your way and focusing on the primacy of patterns.

[kansi]

I have been learning and using Erlang for quite sometime and it's syntax was one of the attractive part for me, short and concise. But it has always confused me why people keep praising Elixir for the break through they made with its syntax !