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A comment on Ask HN: Why isn't Erlang more popular?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Why isn't Erlang more popular? by vertex-four on Friday February 21, 2014 @12:51PM (#7278237)
> Based on this I'm guessing that Erlang is one of those functional languages that are great for mathematical proof-like software development but not practical for solving actual problems because the world is mutable and the language constructs are not.

It was actually designed to solve actual problems. Specifically, extremely high reliability in some of Ericsson's core networking gear.

I'd recommend Learn You Some Erlang[0] if you intend to look at it again. It explains the language, then OTP (the Open Telephony Platform - a framework for defining Erlang process trees and failure modes), then basic outside communication and disk storage.

[0] http://learnyousomeerlang.com/

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Why isn't Erlang more popular? by Guvante on Friday February 21, 2014 @01:13PM (#7278383)
You misunderstand his point. He isn't saying that Erlang is a toy language, he is saying that documentation makes Erlang look like a toy language.

i.e. showing him how his thought was wrong doesn't change the fact that many other people will probably make a similar thoughts.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Why isn't Erlang more popular? by vertex-four on Friday February 21, 2014 @01:51PM (#7278612)
No, I understood the OP's point, I just decided to point them towards a better resource in the case that they do want to learn more about it at some point. I agree that the Erlang site is utterly dreadful.
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Re:Ask HN: Why isn't Erlang more popular? by Guvante on Friday February 21, 2014 @06:39PM (#7280203)
Fair enough, just misunderstood your tone, my apologies.
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Re:Ask HN: Why isn't Erlang more popular? by gordonguthrie on Friday February 21, 2014 @03:34PM (#7279230)
Yessum, it is indeedy...
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Re:Ask HN: Why isn't Erlang more popular? by hapless on Friday February 21, 2014 @04:19PM (#7279512)
For the record, only one generation of equipment used Erlang/OTP. As a part of Ericsson's hardware platform, it was very short-lived.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Why isn't Erlang more popular? by zdam on Saturday February 22, 2014 @04:51AM (#7281601)
What did subsequent generations of equipment use?
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