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by gurraman 2678 days ago
Many of the systems I build do require routing/filtering/messaging and I have yet to find a more pleasant environment to work in than Erlang. I can agree that the ecosystem is a bit lacking if you want to build a quick web application, but out of curiosity, what are you referring to when you say that Erlang lacks a lot compared to modern languages?
1 comments
mercer 2677 days ago
How do you feel about Phoenix (and, by extension, Elixir) as something that might scratch the 'quick web application' itch?

As a web developer, I've been quite happy learning Elixir/Phoenix in the past year, and learning Erlang has been on my list, so I'm very interested in hearing from people with more Erlang experience when it comes to 'web stuff'.

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gurraman 2677 days ago
I must admit that I have not (yet) played with Elixir. It looks very exciting though!

I don't do much "web stuff" with Erlang. The closest I go is probably HTTP-based control interfaces for other services (routing, validate input, do something in the system and return a response).

I usually turn to Python and Django when I want to create web stuff. Generic views, the forms API, DRF, admin, and an ORM that integrates well with all of the aforementioned are godsent if you just want to get something online quickly.

I still have old Django project that I wrote for a customer back in 2007. Besides upgrading Django two times a year and updating the ui a little it has been running w/o problems ever since. And I still find my way around the code instantly.

I have yet to try something that comes close to being as convenient to work with.

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anthony_doan 2677 days ago
I love Phoenix but creating form on that framework feels needlessly complex.

Formex library is outdated and doesn't seem to work on Phoenix 1.4 but it makes it so much better to create form.

With Phoenix form library you have to add code in several files (schema, context, controller, view, and template). I can never remember all of it correctly so I have to refer to pragprog text book all the time. Formex require less.

I don't believe this is some sort of a deal breaker but it is important enough. There are tons of web app require forms CRUD operations admin like stuff to insert data via web.

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