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What do you mean testing with processes?
I won't suggest these are the best written tests, but I test various processes, supervisors, etc like this:
https://github.com/cpursley/walex/blob/master/test/walex/sup...
> Lots of other tools are a bit short of the “first-class” level of polish; Image/Vix
I'm the author of Image and I'd welcome feedback on improving areas where you see lack of polish (there's a reason its not yet 1.0, but it is getting closer - primarily rewriting the color model).
Comments here are fine, or in the repo at https://github.com/kipcole9/image
We give similar examples in our anti-patterns docs: https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/main/code-anti-patterns.html#compl...
## State management
Generally agreed. Just one nit:
> Sure the state is all encapsulated into processes, but then those processes are hidden behind an abstraction layer that makes them invisible, so really you’re just touching global variables.
They are not invisible. You can use Observer, the Phoenix Live Dashboard, and many other tools to traverse, explore, and navigate the supervision tree, processes, and see where all state is!
## Imports
Agreed. We had several discussions on how to improve this but nothing satisfactory. Maybe it is time for another tango.
## Mixed messages
I'd say we actually do a good job on the official docs on the topics that are directly related to Elixir:
* On umbrella projects, the official guide discusses trade-offs: https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/dependencies-and-umbrella-projects...
* Live upgrades are covered in our release docs: https://hexdocs.pm/mix/Mix.Tasks.Release.html#module-hot-cod...
* On macros: https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/macro-anti-patterns.html#unnecessa...
I assume the trouble is in finding this information, so if anyone finds we should link to them from other places, pull requests are welcome. In general, PRs to improve docs are always gladly received, be in Elixir, Ecto, or elsewhere!
## Others
> Anecdotally, when Elixir started off there was some bad blood between them and the Erlang community, which is the origin of this schism
No bad blood, really. I asked the `rebar` team (not the current `rebar3`) if they would accept PRs to also compile Elixir, they said no (which is understandable) and then we move forward with `mix` (which was a contribution from a Clojure developer inspired by `lein`). The projects drifted apart but we often share whatever we can in other places (such as https://github.com/hexpm/hex_core).
> In fact the Elixir compiler almost never gives you an outright error, basically it only fails if a file can’t be parsed. This feels spooky as hell… but its warnings are basically always correct and seldom miss anything
Yes! Our goal is to avoid halting compilation as much as possible and instead rely on precise warnings. It is easier to debug a program that compiles (and then raises) than one that does not compile at all.