Lisp Flavoured Erlang ...a chat with Robert : - )

LFE (Lisp Flavoured Erlang) gives you complete access to the BEAM/Erlang/OTP, and Elixir for that matter, with a very simple and consistent syntax. And macros as god intended. It is very KICASS (Keep It Consistent And Simple Stupid).

10 Likes

It is true that Liffybot is your love child?

3 Likes

I had to google, and found:

Aww very cute!! :robot:

4 Likes

It is a cutie :smile:

4 Likes

I was looking to learn a LISP. Found that Clojure was really loved.
But
 I don’t know why, LFE attracts me! Is it normal? Now that I’ve seen Liffybot, I guess that the answer is yes.

4 Likes

What I like about LFE is that it gives me both lisp, which I love, and all the power and features of Erlang/OTP, which I also love. :wink:

6 Likes

+1

Lol, but are read-macro’s in yet? ^.^

But yeah, LFE is awesome, everyone should at least try it in earnest!

3 Likes

We don’t have read-macros yet. The current way reading is done would not allow CL type read-macros but we could have a simplified for which would syntactically look like #<macro-char><expression> . At read if the char had a read-macro function connected to it then that function be called with the parsed expression at read time and its value be inserted into the input. So for example #t(erlang:time) would be replaced by #(13 34 12).

This would work but I don’t know how useful it would be.

2 Likes

Til there is a LFE edition of SICP. Wow.

4 Likes

These have been written by Duncan McGreggor @oubiwann and are truly fantastic. He also stands for a lot of the other LFE documentation as well.

6 Likes

Also, Liffybot makes many (sometimes hidden) appearances in the LFE adaptation of “Casting SPELs in Lisp” :smile:

https://lfe.io/books/casting-spels/

5 Likes

I’m not surprised to hear this. I recall seeing a video interview where I think he is interviewing you and Joe, and remember thinking to myself how eloquent and well spoken he was :blush:

Welcome to the forum Duncan :048:

I have posted threads about your books in our Books section however I was wondering whether you have epub or mobi (Kindle) or even PDF versions? I reckon they could prove popular as many people read on portable digital devices now.

Plus, following on from my comment to Robert above, have you thought about writing a book from scratch? Perhaps something covers both Erlang and LFE? I reckon covering both could work really well as it’ll double the possible number of people interested in it - mostly those interested in LFE but also those who just like your writing style and want to read your book to learn Erlang :blush:

Just a thought, but I am sure @Dave and the rest of the PragProg team would be eager to hear any proposals you might have if this was of interest :003:

3 Likes

I have been amazed by your presentation :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Yeah, I actually pitched a book to NoStarch ages ago (~2015?) – they actually really liked the idea but as the demand for LFE texts was (and undoubtedly still is) low, they passed. But they did ask if I was interested in writing that same book for a more popular language :wink: (so I guess they liked the idea!)

I’m pretty busy lately, but I do have several open source writing projects in the queue 
 that being said, I do love Erlang more than ever before and would love to do a dual-language book (with bonus sections for Lisp-only content, e.g., macros, or maybe pairing up with someone who’s a master at Erlang parse transforms :wink:). Something to keep in mind. Maybe even bring in some historical context (McCarthy’s original Lisp ideas, some of the early experiments in proto-Erlang – Smalltalk, Prolog, etc
 Could be a lot of fun and provide some good, juicy context for readers 
).

8 Likes

Oh wow, that does sound promising (that they wanted you to write the book for another language) - so maybe that could be your ‘second’ book
 because


That sounds ABSOLUTELY AMAZING :048:

I don’t actually know any Lisps so this marrying of three things that I am interested in would be perfect - and not just for me but I bet lots of other people too. All that bonus material, well that would make it even more compelling :003:

I really do hope something comes of this, and I haven’t mentioned anything to Dave yet, but I’m really hoping he takes the BEAM world under his wing like Dave Thomas did Ruby (and then later Elixir) - I reckon if that were to happen then combined with everything else we’re seeing (and are going to see) it really will be like the stars are aligning to take Erlang and the BEAM world to the next level - and that is incredibly exciting.

Btw, for anyone interested here’s the video I was referring to - I can’t believe how calm and collected you were Duncan, if that was me I wouldn’t have been able to contain my excitement :lol:

4 Likes

Oh, wow – that video was quite the flashback! And it was a LOT of fun to do :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: 


3 Likes

The funny thing is both Robert and Joe seem really excited :lol: and I am guessing that was down to some or all of the following: being in an ‘exciting’ studio-like setting, a great day at a conference (or at Rackpace), Erlang becoming more famous/talked about at the time, and as well as of course meeting you :003: Whatever the reasons were, it’s clear they were happy to be there and that’s always heart-warming and nice to see.

Btw, and I hope she won’t mind me mentioning her, but @sophiedebenedetto is the Erlang/Elixir series editor at PragProg and I am hoping she might come across this thread and see some of the posts above
 I am sure I wouldn’t be the only person interested in seeing you write and them publish such a book :blush:

2 Likes

Yeah, that was a fun year for Erlang Factory 
 Robert and I chatted about LFE in a common room at the hotel (with a fireplace, iirc!), he gave his talk “Hitchhiker’s Tour of the BEAM”, JosĂ© was very excited about sharing Elixir with everyone, and Rackspace was sponsoring several events for Joe and the Gang (there was this amazing moment, emblazoned upon my memory, where we were all walking across town in San Francisco, down to the Rackspace offices, with Joe leading ~80 Erlangers like the Pied Piper – not to say that we were a bunch of rats, or anything 
). It was a really fun year for Erlang, and a hint of things to come: I think the next Erlang Factory saw the talk from WhatsApp and its acquisition for so many billions of dollars (but big $$$ always makes some people nuts, so 2013 was still probably more fun for people like me :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:).

P.S.: I looked it up, and there was indeed a fireplace :laughing: : Visual Gallery Hotel - Marines Memorial Association Marines Memorial Association

3 Likes

Oh hello! Thanks for pinging me in here @AstonJ :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: and hello @oubiwann.

I’d be happy to explore some of the book ideas you’ve been kicking around to see if they might be a good fit for PragProg and to answer any questions you might have on our pitching and publishing process. Feel free to message me through this platform if you’d like to chat :books:

2 Likes

Ooo exciting stuff Sophie! Thanks for dropping by and saying hello - I hope something comes of this and I will keep everything crossed it does!

You may also want to keep an eye on this thread: What kind of Erlang books or learning material would you like to see? (I reckon a book from @bjorng, @garazdawi, @kennethL and the rest of the Erlang core team would go down really well too! In fact in a conversation I had with Kenneth he said one of the core team’s aims was to help show people how to write good reliable software - and I think people would love to see a book from them on that topic! As you know, reliable software is Erlang’s bread and butter and it’s something the core team have intimate details of. I know I wouldn’t be the only person interested in a book (or two!) from them :003:)

Sounds like a perfect day Duncan! And a real fire would have been the icing on the cake for me! :lol:

I wonder if @rvirding remembers the day too? And whether it was equally memorable for him (was that the first time you and him met btw?)

2 Likes