QFM050: Elixir Reading List - January 2025
Source: Photo by Christian Puta on Unsplash
This month's Elixir Reading List kicks off with an article on Background job processing, a topic that remains a core concern for Elixir developers. Ant is a lightweight alternative to existing solutions like Oban. Built on Mnesia, Ant prioritises simplicity while still supporting job persistence and retries. However, as the article notes, Mnesia's storage model may present challenges in cloud-based deployments, requiring careful consideration of persistence strategies.
Remote's case study on its journey from startup to unicorn exemplified scaling engineering teams and applications. The company attributes much of its success to Elixir's reliability and scalability, which enabled it to maintain engineering efficiency while growing to nearly 300 developers. This case study provides valuable insights into how Elixir supports global-scale applications while balancing infrastructure needs.
Data evolution and schema management are tackled in Dashbit's discussion of set-theoretic types for ensuring backward compatibility in evolving public data structures. The article presents a structured approach to managing schema changes safely, drawing parallels with Rust and other languages that emphasise type safety.
On the frontend, Phoenix Components and Atomic Design are explored as strategies for building scalable, maintainable UI systems. The use of reusable components—organised into atoms, molecules, and organisms—ensures a consistent and adaptable design system across applications, making UI development more structured and collaborative.
Telemetry and monitoring take centre stage in Gordon Guthrie's guide on using Phoenix's out-of-the-box telemetry features. The article covers how developers can set up custom metrics, visualise performance data, and leverage network transparency to monitor distributed applications more effectively.
AI-assisted development is also emerging as a topic of interest. A tutorial on AI-driven URL shortening showcases how ChatGPT can guide Elixir developers through building real-world applications, demonstrating how AI tools can be integrated into software development workflows.
For those interested in ETL and data processing, a guide to GenStage-powered pipelines outlines best practices for handling real-time data streams in Elixir. The article walks through implementing scalable ETL processes while leveraging Elixir's concurrency model to maximise efficiency.
Elixir's pattern matching capabilities are extended in a discussion on unification, a technique borrowed from logic programming. This article provides a deep dive into two-sided pattern matching, illustrating how unification can be applied in practical scenarios beyond standard pattern matching techniques.
Security also features in this month's reading list, with Michael Lubas' talk at ElixirConf EU 2024 outlining potential vulnerabilities in Elixir applications and strategies for mitigating them. The presentation provides actionable guidance on improving application security, reinforcing the need for ongoing vigilance in modern web applications.
As always, the Quantum Fax Machine Propellor Hat Key will guide your browsing. Enjoy!
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Originally published on quantumfaxmachine.com. Also cross-published on Medium.
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