I was first paid for a line of code back in 1976 while working as a technical magazine editor. Since then, I’ve enjoyed writing code professionally in over a dozen languages (really need to list them someday). With the exception of a brief but exciting sprint into SNOBOL4, all of them have been assembly, C-like, and lately object oriented. Functional programming is a foreign land.
As of 1 January 2023 I’m semi-retired and able to work on projects that interest me, both professionally and as a hobby. My choice for new projects is to either continue to work in Python, a language I’ve used and loved since 1997, or buckle down and learn something new.
Elixir, Erlang, and the BEAM/OTP have intrigued me since I watched my first Joe Armstrong presentation: The How and Why of Fitting Things Together. After reading many articles and watching conference videos I have a rudimentary understanding of the functional concepts, but the syntax still warps my mind. Looking at a page of Elixir code is like reading an unknown foreign language.
Thus was born the concept of an old dinosaur programmer learning to dance with one more programming language. As of 1 January 2023, I’m archiving all that accumulated assembly language, BASIC, SNOBOL, Pascal, C, C++, C#, Python, OOP, etc. knowledge in the back of my mind and diving into the new world of Elixir.
The reason for this blog? To keep me focused and motivated; document interesting things I learn along the way; brush off some rusty writing skills; and perhaps to contribute to the community in some small way.
You can find me in the Fediverse as @rgacote@genserver.social.
Let’s dance!
All notes and comments are my own opinion.