222: OTP Update and Deprecating Unless
Thinking Elixir Podcast
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Optimizing Test Efficiency and Insights from Discord's WebSocket Enhancements
This chapter introduces a new flag for Mix test that helps developers identify the slowest test modules, emphasizing the importance of optimizing testing processes. Additionally, it reviews Discord's initiative to reduce WebSocket traffic by 40% using a new compression algorithm, providing valuable insights for large-scale project management.
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News includes the release of OTP 27.1 with significant improvements to the Zip module, the upcoming deprecation of the unless keyword in Elixir 1.18, support for Data Channels in Elixir WebRTC, new test-related feature highlighted by ElixirStreams to tackle intermittent failures, a detailed blog from Discord on reducing their websocket traffic by 40%, ElixirConf Lightning talks on YouTube, and more!
Show Notes online - http://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/222
Elixir Community News
- https://erlangforums.com/t/erlang-otp-27-1-released/4006 – OTP 27.1 was released, which is the first maintenance patch for OTP 27. It brings important fixes including upgrades in the Zip module with support for large archives, extended timestamps, UID/GID support, and enhanced directory handling. Several Windows-specific fixes are also included.
- https://x.com/moomerman/status/1838235643983364206 –
unlesskeyword will be deprecated in upcoming Elixir 1.18. Users are encouraged to useif !conditioninstead. Amix format --migratecommand is available to assist with the transition. - https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/pull/13851 – Related GitHub pull request regarding the deprecation of
unlesskeyword. - https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/pull/13841 – Another related GitHub pull request for deprecating the
unlesskeyword in Elixir 1.18. - https://github.com/gleam-lang/gleam/releases/tag/v1.5.0-rc2 – Gleam v1.5.0-rc2 was released for testing.
- https://elixir-webrtc.org/ – Support for Data Channels in Elixir WebRTC was added, enhancing the project with features for sending arbitrary data over P2P connections.
- https://github.com/elixir-webrtc – GitHub organization for Elixir WebRTC, including recent updates and projects.
- https://x.com/mickel8v2/status/1838565408711880801 – Twitter announcement about the addition of data channels in Elixir WebRTC.
- https://blog.swmansion.com/data-channels-in-elixir-webrtc-0853c7d0e256 – Blog post explaining the significance and uses of data channels in Elixir WebRTC.
- https://www.elixirstreams.com/tips/mix-test-repeat-until-failure – ElixirStreams video tip on using
mix test --repeat-until-failure nto run tests until failure, handy for diagnosing intermittent test failures. - Mark's favorite seed to use is
--seed 0, which runs tests in sequential order, which is helpful during TDD. - https://www.elixirstreams.com/tips/mix-test-slowest-modules – New
--slowest-modules nflag added tomix testhelps identify modules with the slowest tests, complementing the existing--slowest nflag for individual tests. - https://discord.com/blog/how-discord-reduced-websocket-traffic-by-40-percent – Discord shared a new blog post detailing how they reduced websocket traffic by 40% by switching from zlib to zstandard for compression and implementing
PASSIVE_UPDATE_V2. - https://github.com/silviucpp/ezstd – The Erlang library
ezstdused by Discord, which they contributed to by adding streaming support. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJCWzN1Vahs – ElixirConf Lightning talks released on YouTube, available as a single hour-long video with chapter timestamps.
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqj39LCvnOWbW2Zli4LurDGc6lL5ij-9Y – Playlist for ElixirConf Lightning talks on YouTube.
- https://elixirfriends.transistor.fm/episodes/friend-1-peter-ullrich – A new Elixir podcast called 'Elixir Friends' launched by German Velasco, featuring a casual and relaxed format. The first episode guest is Peter Ullrich.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5apHLuFi5JI – The Elixir Friends podcast is also available as a YouTube video with a runtime of 1:22:10.
Do you have some Elixir news to share? Tell us at @ThinkingElixir or email at show@thinkingelixir.com
Find us online
- Message the show - @ThinkingElixir
- Message the show on Fediverse - @ThinkingElixir@genserver.social
- Email the show - show@thinkingelixir.com
- Mark Ericksen - @brainlid
- Mark Ericksen on Fediverse - @brainlid@genserver.social
- David Bernheisel - @bernheisel
- David Bernheisel on Fediverse - @dbern@genserver.social
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