Functional Web Development with Elixir, OTP, and Phoenix

What Hacker News says

1. nesarkvechnepJun 2025
   I really wished to see an OTP-first design. Unfortunately for me, the code is almost procedural as it's touching ETS or Application, which is built on ETS, in nearly every operation.

   If the author wishes to learn how to design services in Elixir, or any BEAM language, with OTP, they can take a look at "Designing Elixir Systems with OTP" by by James Edward Gray and Bruce Tate, and "Functional Web Development with Elixir, OTP, and Phoenix" by Lance Halvorsen.

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2. bmitcMay 2022
   These types of books are my favorite style. I typically use whatever language I'm trying to learn and get more practice with (usually F#, Elixir, or Racket) instead of whatever the book suggests, if it does suggest one (usually Python or some OOP language). But sometimes the language used in the book is fun, like Logo or Prolog.

   * Mazes for Programmers (by the same author of The Ray Tracer Challenge but is not as language agnostic)

   * The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles

   * Programming Machine Learning: From Coding to Deep Learning

   * Writing an Interpreter in Go and Writing a Compiler in Go (both by the same author)

   * Introducing Blockchain with Lisp: Implement and Extend Blockchains with the Racket Language

   * Exploring Language with Logo

   * Visual Modeling with Logo

   * Turtle Geometry: The Computer as a Medium for Exploring

   * Thinking as Computation: A First Course (uses Prolog to solve various problems in small projects)

   * Functional Web Development with Elixir, OTP, and Phoenix: Rethink the Modern Web App

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3. itbehoJun 2021
   How to Win Friends and Influence People by Carnegie. Old but great for an introvert on the spectrum like me. Human nature doesn't change, but I still don't understand it.

   Functional Web Development with Elixir, OTP, and Phoenix: Rethink the Modern Web App by Lance Halvorsen

   Elixir and Phoenix have been fantastic for my productivity. I had a fairly short, but steep learning curve in the early days, but LiveView is amazing and replaces quite a bit of client side javascript that previously felt redundant to me. I've been getting a quicker time to completion, and correspondingly being paid faster than when I was working with more traditional stacks like Django or Rails.

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4. tortillaMar 2018
   Just finished reading "Functional Web Development with Elixir, OTP, and Phoenix" and I really like it. It gave me a better understanding of GenServer/OTP:

   https://pragprog.com/book/lhelph/functional-web-development-...

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5. dharamgollapudiSep 2022
   While most of these resources could be still valuable, to avoid buyer's remorse, pay attention to the publishing dates, as some of them are very dated:

   2022 - $18.95 - Build a Weather Station with Elixir and Nerves

   2022 - $18.95 - Build a Binary Clock with Elixir and Nerves

   2022 - $15.00 - Programmer Passport: OTP

   2022 - $15.00 - Programmer Passport: Elixir

   2021 - $27.95 - Testing Elixir

   2021 - $26.95 - Concurrent Data Processing in Elixir

   2021 - $22.95 - Genetic Algorithms in Elixir

   2020 - $27.95 - Real-Time Phoenix

   2019 - $26.95 - Programming Ecto

   2019 - $28.95 - Programming Phoenix 1.4 (Current version is 1.6)

   2019 - $26.95 - Property-Based Testing with PropEr, Erlang, and Elixir

   2019 - $24.95 - Designing Elixir Systems with OTP

   2018 - $27.95 - Programming Elixir 1.6 (Current version is 1.14)

   2018 - $27.95 - Craft GraphQL APIs in Elixir with Absinthe

   2018 - $26.95 - Functional Web Development with Elixir, OTP, and Phoenix

   2018 - $24.95 - Learn Functional Programming with Elixir

   2018 - $24.95 - Adopting Elixir

   2015 - $11.00 - Metaprogramming Elixir

   2014 - $27.95 - Seven More Languages in Seven Weeks

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6. snake117Apr 2018
   With respect to software I refer to Programming Elixir/Phoenix (although both Programming Elixir 1.6/Phoenix 1.4 should be released soon). I'm also going through Functional Web Development with Elixir, OTP, and Phoenix by Lance Halvorsen at the moment.

   Outside of software I have:

   - The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

   - Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel

   - Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field

   - Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

   One book that I have been meaning to add next to Syd Field's Screenplay is Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee.

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