Getting Started with Elixir - Code Snippet Hub

In this tutorial, we’ll cover the basics of Elixir, a functional programming language built on the Erlang virtual machine. We’ll cover installation, data types, functions, and basic syntax.

Installation

To get started with Elixir, you’ll need to install it on your computer. The easiest way to install Elixir is to use a package manager. If you’re on macOS, you can use Homebrew:

Copy codebrew install elixir

If you’re on Linux, you can use your distribution’s package manager. For example, on Ubuntu:

csharpCopy codesudo apt-get install elixir

Once you’ve installed Elixir, you can open a terminal and type iex to start the interactive shell.

Data Types

Elixir has several built-in data types, including integers, floats, booleans, strings, lists, tuples, and maps. To create a variable in Elixir, you use the = operator:

makefileCopy codex = 10
y = "hello"

You can also create lists using square brackets:

cssCopy codemy_list = [1, 2, 3]

And tuples using curly braces:

cssCopy codemy_tuple = {:ok, "success"}

Functions

Functions are a core part of Elixir. You define functions using the def keyword, followed by the function name, arguments, and function body. Here’s an example:

rubyCopy codedefmodule MyModule do
  def add(a, b) do
    a + b
  end
end

In this example, we’ve defined a module called MyModule with a function called add that takes two arguments and returns their sum.

You can call this function like this:

csharpCopy coderesult = MyModule.add(1, 2)

Basic Syntax

Elixir’s syntax is similar to that of other functional programming languages. Here are a few basic syntax rules:

All expressions must be terminated with a semicolon.
Indentation is not significant; you can use any amount of whitespace to format your code.
Comments start with a # character.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we’ve covered the basics of Elixir, including installation, data types, functions, and basic syntax. Elixir is a powerful and flexible language that is well-suited to building scalable and fault-tolerant systems. If you’re interested in learning more, the Elixir documentation is a great place to start.

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