Re:Where is Ruby Headed in 2021?
by joelbluminator on Friday November 19, 2021 @04:06PM
(#29282493)
1. I don't know Discord that well but looking at their Github it lists Javascript, Python, Rust, C++ and Elixir (in that order). Is Elixir their main language? Their careers page has tech all over the place - Rust, Java, Python, I actually am not bumping into Elixir. Could be a coincidence but it reinforces my feeling that Elixir is not the main language on Discord (if they even have one).
2. The amount of users Discord has has nothing much to do with anything. Facebook has 2 billion users and its programming language is Hack. So Hack isn't obscure? How many people know and use Hack besides a few thousand Facebook employees? If Facebook gets 2 more billion users in the next decade will Hack become 2x as popular?
Elixir is the language that ties all those other languages together there and was also their first language, until they had to branch out into those other ones for performance or other reasons.
> The amount of users Discord has has nothing much to do with anything
The argument I was arguing against was that Elixir is niche, not argumentum ad populum. It's no longer really niche, just elite. ;)
maybe come out from under that ruby rock and smell the dev air now and then
Also, I was on Ruby since the time when it was "trying to be the next Java" (this was prior to 1.0!). All good things start out small.
Anyway, after the initial learning curve, much happier working in Elixir/Phoenix than I ever was in Ruby/Rails... especially from a code-writing AND code-maintenance standpoint. Immutable-everything is the way forward (which also massively aids concurrency). It also being 10x faster and far better/easier at working in a concurrent context are also perks.