Curated Picks

In a February 2024 Hacker News thread revisiting a 2010 blog post, practitioners debated Erlang's adoption and technical merits. Proponents cited its use in scalable messaging systems like WhatsApp and Discord, and argued its pre-emptive scheduler and process model are superior to Node.js's cooperative async/await for error isolation and concurrency. Critics pointed to unfamiliar syntax, perceived ecosystem risks, and operational complexity compared to mainstream alternatives. The discussion highlighted Elixir's growth as a syntax layer improving adoption, while acknowledging Erlang's continued dominance in telecom and specific high-availability niches.

This 2010 blog post rebutted common criticisms of Erlang's Prolog-like syntax, standard library consistency, and viability for large systems. The author argued semantics (like process isolation for state) matter more than syntax, and defended documentation quality. Commenters debated syntax's role, with some noting its barrier to adoption. The discussion concretely highlighted Erlang's process-oriented abstraction model as its architectural differentiator.

A 2008 critique of Erlang highlighted its Prolog-like syntax, inconsistent libraries, and perceived unsuitability for large teams. Experienced practitioners responded in comments, citing million-line Erlang codebases and frameworks like Nitrogen and Webmachine for web development. Commenters also noted the emergence of BEAM-targeted languages like Elixir and Reia to address syntax concerns. The thread captured early skepticism and community rebuttals that preceded Erlang's broader adoption in concurrent, distributed systems.