It kind of is though, regardless of what the LLM did there, the 'happy path' with something like Phoenix is using the phx.new and the generators which gives you a ton of files and structure that is a bit overwhelming for people used to more 'minimalist' web frameworks.
That's a ton of stuff just to return some JSON from an endpoint.
Sure the structure probably helps when you get into big complex projects, but for a beginner not used to this style of framework it looks like a lot.
Regardless, I believe "something like Phoenix is using the phx.new and the generators which gives you a ton of files and structure that is a bit overwhelming " is true, it can be overwhelming, when the same thing in, say, Go, would be only one file.
Ok sure, but Phoenix is the go-to solution for web projects in Elixir, especially newcomers are frequently told to just use Phoenix instead of trying to build on Plug.
The feedback from the Python person was a bit harsh, and evaluating a language based on LLM generated code is of course silly, but I think some of it still holds true.
I'd love for Elixir to be a more approachable solution for simple web services.
Yes, and the same point should apply to Django from Flask. I think the point being made is that it's not immediately obvious that Elixir does have a microframework in Plug and that is a fair assessment. Just from my own observations this is because there is very little interest in such a thing (it's not zero, but it's low). Most of us have realized that using micro-frameworks leads you to inventing Phoenix/Django/Rails anyway so why not start there? Phoenix especially is pretty lightweight, even with "all those files." I think making Plug more prominent even in the Phoenix docs wouldn't be a terrible idea.
Check this out this guide from the Phoenix docs:
https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix/json_and_apis.html
That's a ton of stuff just to return some JSON from an endpoint. Sure the structure probably helps when you get into big complex projects, but for a beginner not used to this style of framework it looks like a lot.