Elixir Wizards

Joining us on the show today is Quinn Wilton, and we have a wonderful conversation with our guest about her journey with Elixir, unusual path into programming, and her wide appreciation for different languages! We start off looking at the time Quinn spent at Waterloo University and what separates the Canadian ethos around computer science. From there, we turn to Quinn's early work in programming, the first proper job that she stepped into, and the immediate affinity she felt for working in Elixir. We also talk a bit about the interesting research that Quinn has been conducting privately, tracking and plotting the path of Erlang over the decades, while also reflecting on the skill of academic reading. We spend some necessary time hearing from Quinn about the BEAM and what BEAM magic means to her, before hearing about her website, love of Twitter, other languages that currently have her excited, and the avenues she is most lit up about exploring in the future! Listen in to hear it all, as we continue this journey! Key Points From This Episode: Quinn's reflections on her education in Canada, and differences to the American approach to computer science. Reasons that Quinn wanted to pursue a career in programming The first jobs that Quinn landed as a programmer; creating a Roblox game and tracking malware. How Quinn was introduced to Elixir and the immediate love she felt for the language. The recent work that Quinn has been busy with researching and tracing the history of Erlang. Experiences of reading academic papers and what sets it apart from other formats. The inspiration behind Quinn's website and her affinity for Twitter's format. Quinn's favorite characteristics of the BEAM: the debugging possibilities. The project that Quinn worked on using Gleam on the BEAM and her enjoyment of its simplicity. Some possible areas, outlined by Joe Armstrong, that Quinn is excited to explore in the near future. Quinn's huge appreciation for different programming languages and her fascination with Strand. Encouragement from Quinn to dive into reading intimidating research papers. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/jobs Quinn Wilton — https://quinnwilton.com/ Quinn Wilton on Twitter — https://twitter.com/wilton_quinn Quinn Wilton on GitHub — https://github.com/QuinnWilton University of Waterloo — https://uwaterloo.ca/ Roblox — https://www.roblox.com/ Lookout — https://www.lookout.com/ Clint Gibler — https://clintgibler.com/ Gleam — https://gleam.run/ Joe Armstrong — https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/may/08/joe-armstrong-obituary 'Getting Erlang to talk to the outside world' — https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2549678_Getting_Erlang_to_talk_to_the_outside_world Universal Binary Format — https://github.com/ubf/ubf CLU — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLU_(programming_language) Strand — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strand_(programming_language)Special Guest: Quinn Wilton.

While NIFs provide a great way to interface with native code in the BEAM machine, the process can also be rather error-prone. Thankfully, since Isaac Yonemoto built Zigler, things have become a lot simpler, and he joins us today to talk about how. Isaac is an Elixir developer with a background in biotech and we kick off the discussion by hearing about his journey into programming and some of the ways that he has combined it with science. From there we hear more about the different languages Isaac has worked in and why he fell in love with Elixir, where he talks about its encouragement of test-driven development and how this has made him a better programmer. We dive right into the contributions Isaac is making to the Elixir community next, and he starts off by talking about Zigler. He explains how Zigler provides a bridge between Zig and Elixir that makes it far easier to build NIFs. We hear a bunch of the other cool possibilities that Zigler offers to Elixir as well, including its ability to make debugging easier by appending the Zig stack trace to the Elixir one. After hearing Isaac’s opinion of magic in Elixir, we close today's show off with a few of the other projects he is working on, contributions that are bound to make the world of Elixir even more exciting! Key Points From This Episode: Isaac’s early exposure to programming and how he got started in tech. The education Isaac had in the sciences and his experience in the biotech sphere. Difficulties with installing Ruby and how this led to Isaac learning Elixir. Support for asynchronous testing and the reasons why Isaac finds joy in Elixir. The emphasis on test-driven development in Elixir and how this has made Isaac a better programmer. Isaac’s experiences with Zig and the similarities between it and Elixir. How NIFs allow C code in Elixir and what it is like debugging them. Isaac’s Zigler project and how it provides integration between Elixir and Zig making it easy to build NIFs. Cross-compiling C using Zig and why Isaac built a disassembler. Aspects of the BEAM that make it harder to write NIFs in Elixir than in Julia. Isaac’s opinion of magic in programming and how it should always be comprehensible. Final plugs from Isaac: where to find Zigler, and some upcoming projects. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/ Isaac Yonemoto on Twitter — https://twitter.com/DNAutics Isaac Yonemoto on GitHub — https://github.com/ityonemo Isaac Yonemoto on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCarZZW7eavljSdGRQx9kkSA Selectrix — https://github.com/ityonemo/selectrix Mavis — https://github.com/ityonemo/mavis Chiaroscuro - https://github.com/ityonemo/chiaroscuro Zigler - https://hexdocs.pm/zigler/Zig.html Zigler on GitHub — https://github.com/ityonemo/zigler Julia — https://julialang.org/ Testing Elixir with Jeffrey Matthias and Andrea Leopardi — https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/s6e6-matthias-leopardi/Special Guest: Isaac Yonemoto.

Today we are so excited to share a conversation with Maxim Fedorov, who is the Core Infrastructure Lead at communications giant, WhatsApp! In our chat, Maxim offers such interesting insight and wisdom from a long career in the space, focusing on Erlang and why he views it as such a powerful language for the work at WhatsApp. We also get some backstory from Maxim, looking at his first experiences with computers, his educational background, and some of the work he did leading up to his current position. Our guest does a great job of sharing his thoughts on what he sees as a lack of magic within the Erlang language, why he prefers this, and how the company has managed to scale in such a major way over the past years. We also deal with some more general questions, weighing functional languages against object-oriented ones, useful resource recommendations, and a whole lot more! We finish off this episode with a mini-interview with David Hardwick, who is the current Vice President of Engineering at STORD, so make sure to stay tuned until the end for that! Key Points From This Episode: The beginnings of Maxim's interest in computer science and software development. How Maxim transitioned into the network security field. Maxim's experience with timezones and how this is approached for an app like WhatsApp. Thoughts on why WhatsApp is so popular outside of the United States. How Erlang is used at WhatsApp to power messaging. Probable reasons that Erlang was selected as the language for WhatsApp. Outages and downtime; what constitutes a serious issue for WhatsApp user experience. The massive growth that WhatsApp has seen and how their approach to scaling has evolved. Characteristics of Erlang that make it so well suited to WhatsApp's needs; simplicity and reliability. Maxim's perspective on the issues around programmer education and their results. Functional languages versus object-oriented programming; Maxim's thoughts on strengths and weaknesses. Why Maxim views Erlang as not containing or performing anything magical. Maxim's recommendations for resources when getting started in Erlang! Looking back at Maxim's experiences of tertiary education and the thesis he produced. The scaling of the WhatsApp server; the project that Maxim is most proud of! Maxim's love for motorcycles and bicycles and how these grew out of initial conveniences. Today's mini-feature interview with David Hardwick, VP of Engineering at STORD. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/ Maxim Fedorov: https://au.linkedin.com/in/maxim-fedorov-14a570b Electronika MK-61 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronika_MK-52 Brian Acton — https://www.forbes.com/profile/brian-acton/ Learn You Some Erlang — https://learnyousomeerlang.com/ Adopting Erlang — https://github.com/adoptingerlang Joe Armstrong Thesis — https://erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf The BEAM Book— https://github.com/happi/theBeamBook ejabberd — https://www.ejabberd.im/ Will Cathcart Tweet — https://twitter.com/wcathcart/status/1385253969522413568 Clarke's three laws — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws Lukas Larson — https://twitter.com/garazdawi Erlang OTP — https://github.com/erlang/otp/blob/master/lib/kernel/src/pg.erl David Hardwick — https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhardwick STORD — https://www.stord.com/ BetterCloud — http://www.bettercloud.com/Special Guest: Maxim Fedorov.

Some of you may recognize Chelsea Troy from her popular blog of the same name or as a keynote speaker for the March 2021 Code BEAM conference. Chelsea is an instructor in the Master's Program in Computer Science at the University of Chicago and currently works as a staff software engineer at Mozilla, where she specializes in machine learning and backend systems. In our conversation with Chelsea, we discuss some of the unique aspects of coding as a career. Chelsea outlines how programming can be more accessible than other careers because it doesn't have the same financial burden when it comes to education. She also emphasizes the importance of allowing a more diverse range of people access to the field and unpacks the type of person the internet was originally built for, explaining how it had favored privileged affluent individuals from the Bay Area. We hear from Chelsea about how she became a programmer out of a desire for job security rather than passion and why she believes it’s so important to have a broader representation of different narratives when it comes to careers in programming and coding. Later Chelsea shares the story of how she became an educator and why she is so passionate about teaching. For all this and much more, join us today! Key Points From This Episode: Introducing today’s guest Chelsea Troy Why Chelsea believes it’s important to privilege multiple narratives of why people choose to pursue programming as a career. There is less of a financial burden with becoming a programmer than other higher-paying professions. The benefits of a diverse group of people having access to programming as a career. What first prompted Chelsea to start her blog and how her goals for it have changed over time. Why Chelsea struggles to give advice on how to market a blog. How being able to draw parallels between different coding languages has strengthened Chelsea’s teaching and writing pursuits. Why Chelsea is so enthusiastic about teaching. How teaching allows Chelsea to have a more meaningful impact in the field of tech. How Chelsea prioritizes which jobs and clients to pursue as a consultant. How having two parents who taught for living influenced Chelsea’s passion for teaching. Chelsea shares how she earned her position at Chicago University, despite expecting not to. The challenges and benefits of teaching remotely. The pros and cons of functional languages versus object-oriented languages. How students tend to react to learning functional languages versus object-oriented languages. Mini-feature segment: hear from Rosemary about how she became a software engineer. How Rosemary built websites as a side hustle while studying English. Rosemary shares how she transitioned from working with Java and Blu-ray discs to doing back-end web development and writing in Elixir. How RentPath, the company Rosemary is currently working for, is transitioning from Ruby to Elixir. An outline of RentPath and what they do. Rosemary’s many hobbies and pursuits, including wildlife photography. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Chelsea Troy on Twitter — https://twitter.com/HeyChelseaTroy Chelsea Troy on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseatroy/ Chelsea Troy Blog — https://chelseatroy.com/ Upcoming Code BEAM Conferences — https://codesync.global/ Chelsea Troy on Youtube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIwpdjmSUJmqJ8HwvIGNqig Ruby — https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/ Mozilla — mozilla.org/en-US/ Pocket — https://getpocket.com/ Rosemary Ledesma — https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosemary-ledesma-b6198717/ RentPath — https://www.rentpath.com/ RedFin — https://www.redfin.com/Special Guest: Chelsea Troy.

While we can think of many reasons why we love Elixir, the community could always benefit from a more lively conversation around testing. It was with this in mind that Jeffrey Matthias and Andrea Leopardi decided to write Testing Elixir, and today they join us on the show to share some of the insights to be found in their new book. Our guests start by sketching out the main reasons why they decided to write a book of this nature before speaking to the process of writing it collaboratively from their respective homes in Italy and the US. Andrea and Jeffrey speak about the challenges of finding a middle ground between their unique styles to come up with a unified testing method. The conversation then takes a deep dive into the weeds of testing in Elixir and we hear our guests' perspectives on the most appropriate situations to use async true, Mox, Ecto Sandbox, and other techniques. We wrap up our interview with a question about what Andrea and Jeffrey would most like people to take away from their book where they express the hope that it can act as a springboard for further conversation about best practices for testing in Elixir and more. As always, we close the show off with our mini-interview, this time talking to Tracey Onim from Podii. Key Points From This Episode: Why Jeffrey and Andrea wrote their book and how they pitched it to the publisher. How the feedback Andrea and Jeffrey got while writing the book shaped its content. What writing the book was like considering its authors live in different countries. How our guests came up with a unified testing method when each had their own style. Stories about testing mistakes and the funny situations they led to. Discussing the HBO integration test email and how it was responded to and dealt with. The issue of developers not using async true enough and how to get better at it. When to use async true, Ecto Sandbox, and Mox. Why our guests use Mox, when the best times to use it are, and how it shapes your thinking. Exploring the relationship between test driven development and using the program. What can go wrong if you rely purely on tests to test out your code. The main takeaways our guests hope can be found in their book. Final plugs from Jeffrey and Andrea and where to find them online. A quick interview where we learn more about Tracey Onim from Podii. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/ Jeffrey Matthias on Twitter — https://twitter.com/idlehands Andrea Leopardi — https://andrealeopardi.com/ Andrea Leopardi on Twitter — https://twitter.com/whatyouhide Andrea Leopardi on GitHub — https://github.com/whatyouhide/corsica Testing Elixir — http://testingelixir.com/ Testing Elixir — https://pragprog.com/titles/lmelixir/testing-elixir/ Testing Elixir — https://www.target.com/p/testing-elixir-by-andrea-leopardi-jeffrey-matthias-paperback/-/A-83072057#lnk=sametab Testing Elixir on Twitter — https://twitter.com/testingelixir Publish with The Pragmatic Bookshelf — https://pragprog.com/become-an-author/ Ecto.Adapters.SQL.Sandbox — https://hexdocs.pm/ecto_sql/Ecto.Adapters.SQL.Sandbox.html Mox — https://hexdocs.pm/mox/Mox.html Command Line Options — https://hexdocs.pm/mix/1.12/Mix.Tasks.Test.html#module-command-line-options Mocks and Explicit Contracts — http://blog.plataformatec.com.br/2015/10/mocks-and-explicit-contracts/ bypass — https://github.com/PSPDFKit-labs/bypass Test-Driven Development with Phoenix — https://www.tddphoenix.com/ Tracey Onim — https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracey-onim-420b3316a?originalSubdomain=ke Podii — https://www.apollo.io/companies/Podii/5c1df0e8f651257261ddc16a?chart=countSpecial Guests: Andrea Leopardi and Jeffrey Matthias.

Joining us for this episode of Elixir Wizards is the vastly experienced and well-traveled Francesco Cesarini! Francesco is the founder of Erlang Solutions and we are so lucky to have him here on the show to talk about his personal and professional journey, and take this great season of shows on the magic of the BEAM even further. Francesco takes us through his early interactions with computers and coding and the events that led to his decision to study computer science, before diving into his move to Sweden, and subsequently the UK, and how this all resulted in the founding of his company. Our guest touches on some helpful lessons he learned around marketing and branding, particularly related to the name of the company and we also discuss how the company grew in stages over the years. From there, the conversation turns to Francesco's work on conferences, and his commitment to this important feature of the community. We talk about the benefits of virtual conferences, what to look forward to, and the team that Francesco works with when organizing. To finish off this segment, our guest gives a few recommended resources and comments on Erlang syntax too! For today's mini-feature we welcome Jeffery Utter who works as a Senior Software Developer at Bleacher Report, so make sure to tune in to catch it all! Key Points From This Episode: Francesco's route into coding from an early age and first forays into studying computer science. The first job that Francesco had out of college: an exciting internship at Ericsson. How Francesco founded Erlang Solutions after leaving Sweden and moving to London. The big growth steps that happened over the years as Erlang Solutions developed. Francesco's evolving mindset during this growth period and his attitude towards scaling the company. The current size of the company and the offices that are spread all over the world! Virtual conferences, more connectivity, and the benefits of getting involved in the community. The planning process for conferences and the size of the team that put them together. The growth curve for Erlang Solutions over the years and the main drivers in the process. Examples from the explanatory videos that Francesco produced to help people understand Erlang. Francesco's feelings about Erlang syntax and the misconceptions about its difficulty. Recommendations of helpful resources to aid the learning curve. Getting involved with Erlang Solutions and connecting with Francesco and his team! Jeffery Utter from Bleacher Report joins us to briefly talk about his journey with Elixir. The time that Jeffery spent working at Communication Service for the Deaf prior to Bleacher Report. Some updates on the growth and evolution of Bleacher Report and what they offer users. How Elixir is used at Bleacher Report and its succession of Ruby at the company. Jeffery's alternate career paths and qualifications in music and education! Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/ Elixir Conference — http://smr.tl/conf-podcast Francesco Cesarini on Twitter — https://twitter.com/FrancescoC Joe Armstrong — https://codersatwork.com/joe-armstrong.html Erlang Solutions — https://www.erlang-solutions.com/ Erlang Programming Language - Computerphile — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOqQVoVai6s Chalmers University of Technology — https://www.chalmers.se/en/Pages/default.aspx Erlang & Elixir Developers | Careers at Erlang Solutions — https://www.erlang-solutions.com/careers/ Code BEAM V SF 2021 — https://codesync.global/conferences/code-beam-sf-2021/. RabbitMQ Summit— https://rabbitmqsummit.com/ Languages, and about languages, on the BEAM — https://github.com/llaisdy/beam_languages Lambda Days 2021 — https://www.lambdadays.org/lambdadays2021 Code Mesh — https://codesync.global/conferences/code-mesh-ldn Erlang Master Classes University of Kent — https://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/ErlangMasterClasses/ Professor Simon Thompson — https://www.kent.ac.uk/computing/people/3164/thompson-simon Designing for Scalability with Erlang/OTP — https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/designing-for-scalability/9781449361556/ Erlang Programming — https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/erlang-programming/9780596803940/ Jeffery Utter — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffutter Bleacher Report — https://bleacherreport.com/ Communication Service for the Deaf — https://www.csd.org/ Gallaudet University — https://www.gallaudet.edu/

Today we have some extra BEAM magic for all of you! Joining us on the show is Chris Miller, who currently works as an Associate Software Engineer at Corvus Insurance. We get into a great conversation with Chris about his history with programming, his long-held interest in mathematics, and how he is trying to bring these two worlds closer together through his work. Chris weighs in with some very important expert perspectives on a range of subjects, from monads and monoids to Vim and Emacs, before we get into the different avenues of Chris' work. Along with an old college friend, Chris runs the informative YouTube Channel, Coding Cave, helps other coders through mentorship and tutoring, and is also multilingual, speaking Mandarin, Spanish, German, and English! We get some illumination on interesting and important concepts such as Turing completeness, programming language theory, and more, all delivered with an accessibility that belies the high level of the material. So for all this, plus our bonus mini-segment with Semsee employee, Sidney Leatherwood, at the end, be sure to listen in today! Key Points From This Episode: The story behind Chris' Twitter handle and his admiration for Leonhard Euler! How Chris is bringing his love of math into his programming work. A crash course on monads and monoids! Chris' teaching and tutoring work and his aim of bringing fun examples into learning. The YouTube channel that Chris runs with an old friend, called Coding Cave. Chris' take on the Vim versus Emacs debate. How Chris learned to program from his father, and his return to it during college. Unpacking programming language theory and the idea of Turing completeness. Chris clears up the difference between computer science and mathematics. Reasons that Chris enjoys working in Elixir compared with other languages. Chris' goals for his YouTube channel and his hopes to spread advanced education. Magic and languages; a programming language theory perspective. Chris' day job as a software engineer at Corvus Insurance using Elixir and Elm. The array of languages that Chris can speak; Mandarin, German, and Spanish. The process of language acquisition and Chris' methods for learning. Why Chris believes starting with the function is the best way to learn a new programming language. The aspects of Elixir and the BEAM that have Chris the most excited at the moment! This week's mini-feature with Sidney Leatherwood and his use of Elixir in production. The comparative rating service that Semsee offers their customers. Hiring in Elixir currently; perks, challenges, and resources in the space. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/ Chris Miller on Twitter — https://twitter.com/blackeuler Elixir Wizard Conference — http://smr.tl/conf-podcast Leonhard Euler — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler Curry–Howard Correspondence — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry%E2%80%93Howard_correspondence Haskell — https://www.haskell.org/ Brooklyn Zelenka — https://medium.com/@expede Coding Cave — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwIO8jv71cbOyEwJdrYov_g Conversations with the Creator: José Valim — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXpoKKkqAX4 Functor — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functor Spacemacs: Emacs advanced Kit focused on Evil — https://www.spacemacs.org/ hlissner/doom-emacs — https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs Turing Completeness — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_completeness Cal Newport — https://www.calnewport.com/ Boolean Algebra — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_algebra Clojure — https://clojure.org/ Corvus Insurance — https://www.corvusinsurance.com/ APL — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_(programming_language) Gleam - https://gleam.run/ Sidney Leatherwood on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/leather-s Semsee — https://semsee.com/Special Guest: Chris Miller.

While there is magic to be found in many frameworks, having too much going on under the hood without you being able to control it is not for everybody. Today we invite Parker and Shannon Selbert to speak about their dynamic partnership and the ‘controlled magic’ of their tool Oban. Together Parker and Shannon founded Soren, where they help clients with established web apps stabilize, scale, and ‘add schmancy features’. Their tool Oban is a persistent background job processor written in Elixir whose differentiating feature revolves around keeping jobs after they're processed. We dive right in with Parker and Shannon hearing about how they got into programming before they talk about Oban and what sets it apart. Next up we get into how our guests navigate their personal relationship and professional partnership and they weigh in on homeschooling kids, writing new features, and the necessary life skills for handling Oban user support. Moving onto the topic of the BEAM, we explore the unique type of magic it offers and how this plays into some of the cooler features of Oban such as being able to cancel jobs. Our guests talk about some of the kinks they still need to work out of their tool and we wrap up our conversation on the pro version of Oban and how successful it has been. As always we close today’s show off with our mini-interview, this time with Joe Peck from Spreedly! Key Points From This Episode: The illicit stories behind how Parker and Shannon got into tech. Understanding Oban, a persistent background job processor written in Elixir. How Oban is different from other job processors like Sidekiq. The great partnership our guests have and the story behind Soren. How Parker and Shannon differentiate their personal and professional life. The approach Parker and Shannon take to handling Oban user support. Perspectives on the magic of homeschooling, relationships, and Oban! Different kinds of magic provided by different frameworks and why Elixir magic is the best. How Parker and Shannon got interested in Erlang, BEAM, and Elixir. The best part about maintaining an open-source project. The story behind getting a global concurrency lock on handling batches. Added features that come with upgrading to the pro version of Oban. Canceling a job on Oban and the role the BEAM plays in allowing this. Writing documentation for Oban and our guest’s plans to make video tutorials. The shift in digital learning more towards video tutorials. Perspectives on whether we have arrived at a golden age in computing yet. Challenges around implementing seamless horizontal scaling in Oban. Making a living and working on Oban; advantages of setting up a pro version. Our mini-interview with Joe Peck where we explore his journey with Elixir. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Elixir Wizards |> Conference — https://smr.tl/conf-podcast SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/ Soren on Twitter — https://twitter.com/sorentwo?lang=en Soren — https://sorentwo.com/ Parker Selbert on GitHub — https://github.com/sorentwo Shannon Selbert on GitHub — https://github.com/sorenone Oban — https://github.com/sorentwo/oban Sidekiq — https://sidekiq.org/ Lawnmower Man — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104692/ Soren Kierkegaard — https://www.britannica.com/biography/Soren-Kierkegaard Ender's Game — https://www.amazon.com/Enders-Ender-Quintet-Orson-Scott/dp/0812550706 Joe Peck — https://peckyeah.com/ Spreedly — https://www.spreedly.com/Special Guests: Parker Selbert and Shannon Selbert.

Today we are joined by the Vice President of Engineering at Corvus Insurance, Erik Person! Erik continues our journey into the magic of the BEAM, our season-long theme for the Elixir Wizards Podcast, and we get to hear all about Erik's path in programming, his relationship with Elixir, and his utilization of the BEAM. Growing up in a family involved in computer science, and an early affinity for technology made the choice of what to study at college a straightforward one for Erik. He tells us about his life during and after those school years, touching on his first job and the important milestones leading up to his current position at Corvus. We talk about his early feelings for Elixir and why it appealed to him almost immediately before discussing different languages on the BEAM and his love of types! Our guest also shares some of the bigger challenges he has encountered working in Elixir and touches on the issue of scaling effectively. In this episode, we also air a mini-feature with SmartLogic's very own Stephanie Vizzi, talking about her work at the company, relationship with Elixir, and more! So for all this, plus a lot in between, be sure to tune in! Key Points From This Episode: Erik's family ties to computer science and his path leading into programming. The first job that Erik landed in programming and his current role at Corvus Insurance. The BEAM at Corvus and the general architecture of the company's technology. Erik's first encounters and learnings with Elixir and the questions it answered for him immediately. The learning curve for languages on The BEAM; Erik's own journey to understanding. Erik's preference for types and his wish for their inclusion on Elixir! Lisp on The BEAM; Erik unpacks his perspectives and the blog post he wrote on the subject. Getting to grips with abstract forms and how these terms operate in Erlang and Elixir. The challenges that Erik experienced parsing and manipulating the code in Elixir. Erik weighs in on BEAM magic; appreciating the magic that is possible with Elixir and Elm. Perspectives on scaling on Elm and Elixir as an application grows rapidly. How Erik and his team typically use contexts and service-oriented architecture. Challenges with compile times during the process of scaling of the application. Excitement about the progressive steps in the data science component of Corvus. How Erik applied his skills to his passion for playing blackjack by creating a card-counting application. The remote meeting hardware device that Erik built as a pandemic side-project! This week's community mini-feature! Looking at how Stephanie Vizzi got into and uses Elixir. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/ Erik Person on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-person-a9368bb VirtualBox — https://www.virtualbox.org/ Tunnelblick — https://tunnelblick.net/ Corvus Insurance — https://www.corvusinsurance.com/ Corvus Job Openings — https://boards.greenhouse.io/corvusinsurance/ Clojure — https://clojure.org/ Saša Jurić — https://github.com/sasa1977 LFE — https://lfe.io/ Elm — https://elm-lang.org/ Robert Virding — https://codesync.global/speaker/robert-virding/ The Erlang Rationale — https://elixirforum.com/t/the-erlang-rationale-by-robert-virding-pdf/35313 Paul Graham — http://www.paulgraham.com/ Hackers and Painters — https://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Painters-Big-Ideas-Computer/dp/1449389554 Myers Briggs — https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ Chris McCord — http://chrismccord.com/ Mix Xref — https://hexdocs.pm/mix/Mix.Tasks.Xref.html Gleam — https://gleam.run/ Leex — http://erlang.org/doc/man/leex.html GNU Bison - The Yacc-compatible Parser Generator — https://www.gnu.org/software/bison/manual/ YACC — https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/introduction-to-yacc/ Stephanie Vizzi on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-vizzi-b1158996Special Guests: Erik Person and Stephanie Vizzi.

Welcome to a brand-spanking-new season of Elixir Wizards! This time around we will be focussing on the magic of the BEAM, so get ready for an exciting journey into new territories filled with mystery and power! To kick things off in this inaugural episode we are joined by a true legend in the space of Erlang, Elixir, and the BEAM. Robert Virding is one of the three founding members of Erlang, and his unrivaled intimacy with the language and its related subjects is truly inspiring and informative. We feel like we could fill many more episodes just hearing Robert unpack the history he has been involved in, but we do manage to cover a lot in this show, touching on Robert's career arcs, the other founders of Erlang, the connection to Ericsson and the bridge to Elixir, as well as much more. Robert also shares some insight into the BEAM and the idea of a virtual machine, broaching these sometimes misunderstood concepts with simplicity and clarity. We talk about magic, hurdles, best practices, and the future of community, with Robert sharing his experiences working on Erlog, LFE, and much more. Make sure to join us for this episode and stay tuned for the rest of another great season! Key Points From This Episode: Robert's description of the Erlang Rationale document and why it was important to create it. Background information on the founding three members of Erlang and how they came together. Training and early career as a computer scientist; Robert's background before Ericsson. The roots of the Erlang name, and how Robert first came across and connected with it. The simplest definition of the BEAM, Bogdan’s Erlang Abstract Machine! Unpacking the application of a virtual machine and the connection between Erlang and BEAM. Information on Core Erlang and how it works within the compiler. LFE or Lisp-Flavored Erlang and the decisions that were made to keep it straightforward. Hurdles to learning Erlang and Robert's thoughts on getting over these. Weighing the usefulness of 'magic' and the caution with which Robert approaches it. Best practices for Erlang and Elixir according to Robert; the biggest shifts necessary for success. Robert's first feelings about the arrival of Elixir and the questions it raised for him. The motivation behind Robert's work on Erlog! Reflections on the Erlang movies that Ericsson produced and their evolution over time! The future of Erlang, its community, and the need for continued and increased collaboration. Why Robert wants to put more parentheses back in the mix! Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: SmartLogic - https://smartlogic.io/ Robert Virding - https://codesync.global/speaker/robert-virding/ Robert Viriding on Twitter - https://twitter.com/rvirding?lang=en The Erlang Rationale - https://elixirforum.com/t/the-erlang-rationale-by-robert-virding-pdf/35313 Prolog - https://www.swi-prolog.org/ Ericsson - https://www.ericsson.com/ Joe Armstrong - https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/may/08/joe-armstrong-obituary Mike Williams - https://codesync.global/speaker/mike-williams/ Fortran - https://fortran-lang.org/ Pascal - http://www.pascal-programming.info/index.php VAX - https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/v/vax.htm Franz Lisp - https://franz.com/products/allegro-common-lisp/acl_prolog.lhtml Agner Krarup Erlang - https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Erlang/ Bogumil Hausman - https://peoplepill.com/people/bogumil-hausman LFE - https://lfe.io/ Erlang The Abstract Format - https://erlang.org/doc/apps/erts/absform.html Core Erlang - https://blog.erlang.org/core-erlang-by-example/ Erlog - https://github.com/rvirding/erlog Lua in Erlang - https://github.com/rvirding/luerl Erlang: The Movie - https://elixirforum.com/t/erlang-the-movie/440 Monty Python - http://www.montypython.com/ Erlang Ecosystem Foundation - https://erlef.org/ A first look at the JIT - https://blog.erlang.org/a-first-look-at-the-jit/ Lisp Cycles - https://xkcd.com/297/ Creative Assembly - https://www.creative-assembly.com/home Total War - https://www.totalwar.com/ World of Warcraft - https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/Special Guest: Robert Virding.