DEV Community: Susumu Yamazaki

Install Erlang, Elixir, Phoenix, and Nerves automatically to machines on macOS and Ubuntu by Ansible and Asdf

Susumu Yamazaki — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 21:13:38 +0000

Suppose you install Erlang, Elixir, Phoenix and Nerves to a machine on macOS or Ubuntu by Asdf. In that case, you may do it by your hand, following such articles like "Perfect Steps of Installing Erlang and Elixir to Apple Silicon Mac." But if you do it to two or more machines? You may want to make such jobs automated. Ansible is such an approach.

This article will explain how we automatically install Erlang, Elixir, Phoenix, and Nerves to machines on macOS and Ubuntu by Ansible and Asdf.

Japanese edition is here: https://qiita.com/zacky1972/items/38a9ebb53bbc406fabb7

Prerequisite

Suppose you have a host machine and one or more target machines. You should install Ansible on the host. Suppose the targets run on macOS or Ubuntu. And you should install Homebrew on them on macOS. Moreover, suppose you can log in to all targets by ssh with your public key and become an administrator with the same sudo password. Finally, suppose the hostnames of the targets are target1, target2, ..., target9.

inventory.yml

You should write the information of the targets and common variables to inventory/inventory.yml:

all:
  hosts:
    target[1:9]:
  vars:
    asdf: v0.8.1
    erlang: latest
    elixir: latest
    phoenix: latest
    nerves: latest

target[1:9] means target1, target2, ..., target9. You can rename it as you need. You can also specify each version for Asdf, Erlang, Elixir, Phoenix, and Nerves. In this case, the version of Asdf you will install is v0.8.1, and the versions of the others are the latest. You may specify older Erlang, Elixir, Phoenix, and Nerves versions.

Especially, you may install them to localhost as follows:

all:
  hosts:
    localhost:
      ansible_host: "127.0.0.1"
  vars:
    asdf: v0.8.1
    erlang: latest
    elixir: latest
    phoenix: latest
    nerves: latest

If so, of course, you should enable to log in by ssh to localhost.

ansible.cfg

To suppress warnings, you may write ansible.cfg as follows:

[defaults]
interpreter_python=/usr/bin/python3

Tasks

For reusability, you can write Ansible tasks as components.

Install Asdf for Ubuntu

tasks/0010_install_asdf_linux.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: Install dependencies of asdf
    become: true
    apt:
      update_cache: yes
      cache_valid_time: 86400 # 1day
      name:
        - curl
        - git
      state: latest
  - name: Install asdf
    git:
      repo: https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf.git
      dest: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.asdf"
      depth: 1
      version: "{{ asdf | quote }}"
    register: result
  - name: asdf update
    shell: "bash -lc 'cd {{ ansible_user_dir }}/.asdf && git pull'"
    ignore_errors: yes
    when: result is failed
  - name: set env vars
    lineinfile:
      dest: "{{ shrc }}"
      state: present
      line: "{{ item.line }}"
    with_items:
    - line: ". $HOME/.asdf/completions/asdf.{{ sh }}"
      regexp: '^ \. \$HOME/\.asdf/completions/asdf\.{{ sh }}'
    - line: '. $HOME/.asdf/asdf.sh'
      regexp: '^ \. \$HOME/\.asdf/asdf\.sh'
  when: ansible_system == 'Linux' and (ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu' or ansible_distribution == 'Debian')
  vars:
    - shrc: "{{ ansible_user_dir | quote }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename | quote }}rc"
    - sh: "{{ ansible_user_shell | basename | quote }}"

Install Asdf for macOS

tasks/0010_install_asdf_macos.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: install asdf by Homebrew
    community.general.homebrew:
      update_homebrew: true
      name:
        - asdf
  - name: set env vars (bash)
    lineinfile:
      dest: "{{ shprofile }}"
      state: present
      line: "{{ item.line }}"
    with_items:
    - line: ".  $(brew --prefix asdf)/etc/bash_completion.d/asdf.bash"
      regexp: '^ \. \$(brew --prefix asdf)/etc/bash_completion\.d/asdf\.bash'
    - line: '. $(brew --prefix asdf)/libexec/asdf.sh'
      regexp: '^ \. \$(brew --prefix asdf)/libexec/asdf\.sh'
    when: sh == 'bash'
  - name: set env vars (zsh)
    lineinfile:
      dest: "{{ shrc }}"
      state: present
      line: "{{ item.line }}"
    with_items:
    - line: ". $(brew --prefix)/share/zsh/site-functions"
      regexp: '^ \. \$(brew --prefix)/share/zsh/site-functions'
    - line: '. $(brew --prefix asdf)/libexec/asdf.sh'
      regexp: '^ \. \$(brew --prefix asdf)/libexec/asdf\.sh'
    when: sh == 'zsh'
  when: ansible_system == 'Darwin'
  vars:
    - shprofile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename | regex_replace('$', '_') | regex_replace('zsh_', 'z') }}profile"
    - shrc: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename }}rc"
    - sh: "{{ ansible_user_shell | basename | quote }}"

Install prerequisite libraries for Erlang on Ubuntu

tasks/0011_install_erlang_prerequisite_linux.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: install prerequisite libraries for erlang 
    become: true
    apt:
      update_cache: yes
      cache_valid_time: 86400 # 1day
      state: latest
      name:
      - build-essential
      - autoconf
      - m4
      - libncurses5-dev
      - libwxgtk3.0-gtk3-dev
      - libgl1-mesa-dev
      - libglu1-mesa-dev
      - libpng-dev
      - libssh-dev
      - unixodbc-dev
      - xsltproc
      - fop
      - libxml2-utils
      - libncurses-dev
      - openjdk-11-jdk
  when: ansible_system == 'Linux' and (ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu' or ansible_distribution == 'Debian')

Install prerequisite libraries for Erlang on macOS

tasks/0011_install_erlang_prerequisite_macos.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: install prerequisite libraries for erlang 
    community.general.homebrew:
      update_homebrew: true
      name:
        - autoconf
        - openssl@1.1
        - openssl@3
        - wxwidgets
        - libxslt
        - fop
        - openjdk
  when: ansible_system == 'Darwin'

Install prerequisite libraries for Nerves on Ubuntu

tasks/0013_install_nerves_prerequisite_linux.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: install prerequisite libraries for nerves
    become: true
    apt:
      update_cache: yes
      cache_valid_time: 86400 # 1day
      state: latest
      name:
      - automake
      - autoconf
      - git
      - squashfs-tools
      - ssh-askpass
      - pkg-config
      - curl
      - libssl-dev
      - libncurses5-dev
      - bc
      - m4
      - unzip
      - cmake
      - python
  when: ansible_system == 'Linux' and (ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu' or ansible_distribution == 'Debian')

Install prerequisite libraries for Nerves on macOS

tasks/0013_install_nerves_prerequisite_macos.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: install prerequisite libraries for nerves 
    community.general.homebrew:
      update_homebrew: true
      name:
        - fwup 
        - squashfs
        - coreutils
        - xz
        - pkg-config
  when: ansible_system == 'Darwin'

Install Erlang plugin

tasks/0021_install_erlang_plugin.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: sh env
    ansible.builtin.shell:
    args:
      cmd: "{{ shenv_cmd }}"
      chdir: '{{ ansible_user_dir }}/'
    register: shenv
  - name: asdf plugin add erlang
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }} 
      asdf plugin add erlang
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    failed_when: result.rc != 0 and result.stderr | regex_search('(Plugin named .* already added)') == '' 
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  vars:
    - asdfsh: "{{ ansible_user_dir | quote }}/.asdf/asdf.sh"
    - profile: "{{ ansible_user_dir | quote }}/.profile"
    - shprofile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename | regex_replace('$', '_') | regex_replace('zsh_', 'z') }}profile"
    - shrc: "{{ ansible_user_dir | quote }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename  | quote }}rc"
    - shenv_cmd: "if [ -e {{ asdfsh }} ]; then echo '{{ asdfsh }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shprofile }} ]; then echo '{{ shprofile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ profile }} ]; then echo '{{ profile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shrc }} ]; then echo '{{ shrc }}'; fi"

Install Elixir plugin

tasks/0022_install_elixir_plugin.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: sh env
    ansible.builtin.shell:
    args:
      cmd: "{{ shenv_cmd }}"
      chdir: '{{ ansible_user_dir }}/'
    register: shenv
  - name: asdf plugin add elixir
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }} 
      asdf plugin add elixir
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    failed_when: result.rc != 0 and result.stderr | regex_search('(Plugin named .* already added)') == '' 
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  vars:
    - asdfsh: "{{ ansible_user_dir | quote }}/.asdf/asdf.sh"
    - profile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.profile"
    - shprofile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename | regex_replace('$', '_') | regex_replace('zsh_', 'z') }}profile"
    - shrc: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename }}rc"
    - shenv_cmd: "if [ -e {{ asdfsh }} ]; then echo '{{ asdfsh }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shprofile }} ]; then echo '{{ shprofile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ profile }} ]; then echo '{{ profile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shrc }} ]; then echo '{{ shrc }}'; fi"

Install Erlang

tasks/0101_install_erlang.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: sh env
    ansible.builtin.shell:
    args:
      cmd: "{{ shenv_cmd }}"
      chdir: '{{ ansible_user_dir }}/'
    register: shenv
  - name: asdf install erlang (for Linux)
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }} 
      asdf install erlang {{ erlang | quote }}
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    when: ansible_system == 'Linux'
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  - name: show result
    debug:
      var: result
  - name: asdf install erlang (macOS OTP version 24.1.x or earlier)
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }} 
      {{ install_erlang_ssl_1_1 }}
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    when: (erlang != 'latest' and erlang is version_compare('24.2', '<')) and ansible_system == 'Darwin'
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  - name: show result
    debug:
      var: result
    when: (erlang != 'latest' and erlang is version_compare('24.2', '<')) and ansible_system == 'Darwin'
  - name: asdf install erlang (macOS OTP 24.2 or later)
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }} 
      {{ install_erlang_ssl_3 }}
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    when: (erlang == 'latest' or (erlang is version_compare('24.2', '>='))) and ansible_system == 'Darwin'
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  - name: show result
    debug:
      var: result
    when: (erlang == 'latest' or (erlang is version_compare('24.2', '>='))) and ansible_system == 'Darwin'
  - name: asdf global erlang
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }} 
      asdf global erlang {{ erlang | quote }}
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  vars:
    - asdfsh: "{{ ansible_user_dir | quote }}/.asdf/asdf.sh"
    - profile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.profile"
    - shprofile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename | regex_replace('$', '_') | regex_replace('zsh_', 'z') }}profile"
    - shrc: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename }}rc"
    - shenv_cmd: "if [ -e {{ asdfsh }} ]; then echo '{{ asdfsh }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shprofile }} ]; then echo '{{ shprofile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ profile }} ]; then echo '{{ profile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shrc }} ]; then echo '{{ shrc }}'; fi"
    - install_erlang_ssl_1_1: "KERL_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS=\"--with-ssl=$(brew --prefix openssl@1.1) --with-odbc=$(brew --prefix unixodbc)\" CC=\"/usr/bin/gcc -I$(brew --prefix unixodbc)/include\" LDFLAGS=-L$(brew --prefix unixodbc)/lib asdf install erlang {{ erlang | quote }}"
    - install_erlang_ssl_3: "KERL_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS=\"--with-ssl=$(brew --prefix openssl@3) --with-odbc=$(brew --prefix unixodbc)\" CC=\"/usr/bin/gcc -I$(brew --prefix unixodbc)/include\" LDFLAGS=-L$(brew --prefix unixodbc)/lib asdf install erlang {{ erlang | quote }}"

Install Elixir

tasks/0102_install_elixir.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: sh env
    ansible.builtin.shell:
    args:
      cmd: "{{ shenv_cmd }}"
      chdir: '{{ ansible_user_dir }}/'
    register: shenv
  - name: asdf install elixir
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }}
      asdf install elixir {{ elixir | quote }}
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  - name: show result
    debug:
      var: result
  - name: asdf install elixir
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }}
      asdf global elixir {{ elixir | quote }}
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  vars:
    - asdfsh: "{{ ansible_user_dir | quote }}/.asdf/asdf.sh"
    - profile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.profile"
    - shprofile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename | regex_replace('$', '_') | regex_replace('zsh_', 'z') }}profile"
    - shrc: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename }}rc"
    - shenv_cmd: "if [ -e {{ asdfsh }} ]; then echo '{{ asdfsh }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shprofile }} ]; then echo '{{ shprofile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ profile }} ]; then echo '{{ profile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shrc }} ]; then echo '{{ shrc }}'; fi"

Install Phoenix

tasks/0201_install_phoenix.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: sh env
    ansible.builtin.shell:
    args:
      cmd: "{{ shenv_cmd }}"
      chdir: '{{ ansible_user_dir }}/'
    register: shenv
  - name: install prerequisite
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }}
      mix local.rebar --force
      mix local.hex --force
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  - name: install Phoenix (latest)
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }}
      mix archive.install hex phx_new --force
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    when: phoenix == 'latest'
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  - name: install Phoenix (not latest)
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }}
      mix archive.install hex phx_new {{ phoenix }} --force
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    when: phoenix != 'latest'
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  vars:
    - asdfsh: "{{ ansible_user_dir | quote }}/.asdf/asdf.sh"
    - profile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.profile"
    - shprofile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename | regex_replace('$', '_') | regex_replace('zsh_', 'z') }}profile"
    - shrc: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename }}rc"
    - shenv_cmd: "if [ -e {{ asdfsh }} ]; then echo '{{ asdfsh }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shprofile }} ]; then echo '{{ shprofile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ profile }} ]; then echo '{{ profile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shrc }} ]; then echo '{{ shrc }}'; fi"

Install Nerves

tasks/0301_install_nerves.yml:

---
- block:
  - name: sh env
    ansible.builtin.shell:
    args:
      cmd: "{{ shenv_cmd }}"
      chdir: '{{ ansible_user_dir }}/'
    register: shenv
  - name: install Nerves (latest)
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }}
      mix local.rebar --force
      mix local.hex --force
      mix archive.install hex nerves_bootstrap --force
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    when: nerves == 'latest'
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  - name: install Nerves (not latest)
    ansible.builtin.shell: |
      {{ source }}
      mix local.rebar --force
      mix local.hex --force
      mix archive.install hex nerves_bootstrap {{ nerves }} --force
    args:
      executable: '{{ ansible_user_shell }}'
    register: result
    when: nerves != 'latest'
    vars: 
      source: "{{ shenv.stdout_lines | map('regex_replace', '(^)', '. ') | join('\n') }}"
  vars:
    - asdfsh: "{{ ansible_user_dir | quote }}/.asdf/asdf.sh"
    - profile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.profile"
    - shprofile: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename | regex_replace('$', '_') | regex_replace('zsh_', 'z') }}profile"
    - shrc: "{{ ansible_user_dir }}/.{{ ansible_user_shell | basename }}rc"
    - shenv_cmd: "if [ -e {{ asdfsh }} ]; then echo '{{ asdfsh }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shprofile }} ]; then echo '{{ shprofile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ profile }} ]; then echo '{{ profile }}'; fi; if [ -e {{ shrc }} ]; then echo '{{ shrc }}'; fi"

Playbooks

Then, you can assemble a playbook from the tasks. This section shows some samples.

Install Asdf

playbook/0010_install_asdf.yml:

- name: install asdf
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0010_install_asdf_linux.yml
      when: ansible_system == 'Linux' and (ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu' or ansible_distribution == 'Debian')
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0010_install_asdf_macos.yml
      when: ansible_system == 'Darwin'

Install prerequisites of Erlang

playbook/0011_install_erlang_prerequisite.yml:

- name: install prerequisites of erlang
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0011_install_erlang_prerequisite_linux.yml
      when: ansible_system == 'Linux' and (ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu' or ansible_distribution == 'Debian')
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0011_install_erlang_prerequisite_macos.yml
      when: ansible_system == 'Darwin'

Install prerequisites of Nerves

playbook/0013_install_nerves_prerequisite.yml:

- name: install prerequisites of nerves
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0013_install_nerves_prerequisite_linux.yml
      when: ansible_system == 'Linux' and (ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu' or ansible_distribution == 'Debian')
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0013_install_nerves_prerequisite_macos.yml
      when: ansible_system == 'Darwin'

Install plugins

playbook/0020_install_plugins.yml:

- name: install erlang/elixir plugins for asdf
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0021_install_erlang_plugin.yml
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0022_install_elixir_plugin.yml

Install Erlang and Elixir

playbook/0100_install_erlang_elixir.yml:

- name: install erlang/elixir with asdf
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0101_install_erlang.yml
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0102_install_elixir.yml

Install Phoenix

playbook/0200_install_phoenix.yml:

- name: install phoenix with asdf
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0201_install_phoenix.yml

Install Nerves

playbook/0300_install_nerves.yml

- name: install nerves with asdf
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - include_tasks: ../tasks/0301_install_nerves.yml

Usage

You can run the playbook as follows:

ansible-playbook -f (number of targets) -i (inventory file) (playbook file)

For example, you can install Erlang and Elixir to target1, target2, ..., target9 as follows:

ansible-playbook -f 9 -i inventory/inventory.yml playbook/0100_install_erlang_elixir.yml

If you need to become the administrator when running the playbook, you should run it as follows:

ansible-playbook -f (number of targets) -i (inventory file) (playbook file) --ask-become-pass

For example, you can install Asdf to target1, target2, ..., target9 when the targets include one or more Ubuntu machines as follows:

ansible-playbook -f 9 -i inventory/inventory.yml playbook/0010_install_asdf.yml --ask-become-pass

Aspiration for evision (Aspiration for 2022)

Susumu Yamazaki — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 12:33:40 +0000

evision is quite an excellent product! It is a bridge between Elixir and OpenCV.

I developed NxEvision, a bridge between Nx and evision. I hope it will be a bridge between machine learning and computer vision in Elixir.

I also have an aspiration to apply the Pelemay technology to evision. That is, I'm going to implement optimization invocations of evision.

To be continued...

The Origin of the Programming "Paradigm" by the Combination of Enum Functions and Pipeline Operators

Susumu Yamazaki — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 22:56:11 +0000

Interviewee: José Valim, the creator of Elixir, Chief Adoption Officer at Dashbit;
Interviewer: Susumu Yamazaki, an associate professor at Univ. of Kitakyushu, an organizer of ElixirConf JP.

Japanese Translation

Dec. 17, 2021. To: José Valim

Hi, José,

Masakazu Mori (He made a presentation at ElixirConf US 2021 [1]) and I lecture the course "Programming Theory" at the University of Kitakyushu, including the mainstream programming paradigms: imperative programming, OOP, and functional programming, relating to the history of the architecture of the computer systems. Of course, one of the course's main topics is "Why Elixir?". In Programming Elixir [2], Dave Thomas said, "I don't want to hide data. I want to transform it." I identified this consideration as a new programming paradigm instead of functional programming: The data transformation paradigm.

So, I want to interview you about the history of what you consider about designing Elixir by email, including this topic. I plan to edit and publish this interview as one of the 10th-anniversary articles of the foundation of Elixir.

[1] Masakazu Mori: Live coding a Membership Site in 20min by Phoenix and phx_gen_auth, ElixirConf 2021. The movie is available at https://youtu.be/t5TT0-mI2O4
[2] Dave Thomas: Programming Elixir 1.6: Functional |> Concurrent |> Pragmatic |> Fun, 2nd edition, The Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2018. https://pragprog.com/titles/elixir16/programming-elixir-1-6/

First of all, an essential feature of Elixir, which brings a base to the data transformation, is a combination of Enum functions and pipeline operators. As you know, this brings intense pleasure to programming! In fact, it is one of the reasons that someone chooses Elixir. However, the first version of Elixir 10 years ago is not functional but object-oriented. Then, I guess your first ideation of Elixir may not include such a concept towards data transformation. So, my first question is about your consideration process towards the feature: When did you form the idea, and what brought it?

Note: José said that Elixir was on born May 24, 2012.

Dec. 28, 2021. From: José Valim

When did you form the idea, and what brought it?

I don't think there was one specific moment when the idea was formed. Rather, it was the exposure to several ideas and concepts that slowly unraveled Object Orientation. One of such moments was a talk by Rich Hickey, the creator of Clojure, called Simple Made Easy. The other one was while reading a book called "Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming", by Peter Van Roy and Seif Haridi.

In the book, they build a programming language by introducing new concepts and their benefits one by one. When it comes to Object Orientation, they argue that Object Orientation is nothing more than syntax sugar for dispatching to a known module. For example, if you have:

car = new Car()
car.method()

That's the same as:

car = new Car()
Car.method(car)

If you see Object Orientation as syntax sugar, you have to answer the question: is the syntax sugar worth it? The trouble with this syntax sugar (and Object Orientation) is that it couples state and behaviour. The state (car) can only be handled by a given entity (the class Car). This is often sold as a feature but the truth is that developers spend a lot of time trying to undo or reason about this coupling. The need for inheritance, for example, is caused directly by this coupling. However, introducing inheritance brought its own issues, leading languages to introduce concepts such as multiple inheritance (mixins), open-classes (monkey patching), etc. All with their own flaws too!

The other part of the puzzle is that functional programming has shown the complexity of a software is not in its computations and algorithms. If the system has no shared state, if the system has no side-effects, it becomes much easier for both humans and compilers to reason about your code. Therefore, by encapsulating state, objects have taught us to hide the complex parts of our system. Not only that, we often split this state into several objects, which makes understanding and visualizing how our applications work very hard!

Finally, the industry has learned something that was known in academy for decades: the properties that are positively associated to Object Orientation, such as encapsulation, abstraction, and polymorphism, are not actually specific to objects, and can be leveraged, sometimes even with more success, in other paradigms.

So, going back to our original questions: is this syntax sugar worth it? Is object orientation worth it? The answer to me is a clear no, the downsides are many more than the upsides. And, without objects, all we have is state (data) and functions (transformations), as separate entities. The Elixir programming modal comes as a direct consequence of it.

Elixir also provides the pipeline operator, which can also be seen as syntax sugar. It transforms this:

Enum.frequencies(String.graphemes("Elixir"))

into this:

"Elixir" |> String.graphemes() |> Enum.frequencies()

In some sense, it can be seen as the "." in Object Oriented languages, but without the coupling of the state and the behaviour. The state, in this case it starts as the "Elixir" string, can be sent to any behaviour that accepts the string type.

Pelemay Backend (Aspirations for 2022)

Susumu Yamazaki — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 10:40:52 +0000

Nx is "Numerical Elixir," which realizes multi-dimensional arrays (tensors) and numerical definitions for Elixir. Nx can have a backend. The default backend is the binary backend written in pure Elixir. EXLA, Elixir client for Google's XLA (Accelerated Linear Algebra), and Torchx, Elixir client for LibTorch (from PyTorch), have each backend. Such a backend can be implemented the behavior defined by Nx.Backend.

We researched and developed Pelemay, a native compiler for Elixir. We made presentations about it at Lonestar ElixirConf 2019 and ElixirConf US 2019. It can compile Elixir code with pipelined Enum.map into native code with SIMD instruction, just in time.

So, we propose to apply the Pelemay technology to Nx, Pelemay Backend:

To be continued...

Aspirations for 2022

Susumu Yamazaki — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 23:20:57 +0000

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Make a Pelemay Backend, which applies the Pelemay technology to Nx https://github.com/elixir-nx/nx .
Apply the Pelemay technology to evision https://github.com/cocoa-xu/evision .
Implement a satellite image processing system with Elixir.
Create Astesting https://github.com/zeam-vm/astesting , which automates testing in multiple environments.
Pursue performance per power consumption using ARM and RISC-V.
Accumulate English technical information at https://dev.to/zacky1972 .

I will find the time and write each plan of the above in detail. To be continued...

Perfect Steps of Installing Erlang and Elixir to Apple Silicon Mac (2021 Dec edition)

Susumu Yamazaki — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 12:26:27 +0000

In this article, I'll show the perfect steps of installing Erlang and Elixir to Apple Silicon Mac from scratch using Homebrew and asdf.

1. Upgrade macOS (if M1)

You can skip this step for M1 Pro/Max.

If M1, pre-installed macOS is Big Sur. So, first of all, you need to upgrade macOS into Monterey 12.1. However, upgrading from the pre-installed macOS Big Sur to Monterey will be failed due to the defect of the installer of Monterey. So, you should update Big Sur as the first step. Next, upgrade it into Monterey 12.0.1. Next, update it into Monterey 12.1.

2. Install Xcode 13.2.1 (optional)

You can skip this step even though you will install Homebrew.

Install Xcode 13.2.1 by App store.

3. Install Homebrew

Launch terminal.
Install Homebrew according to the official website.
Run commands shown in the output results after installation.

The commands mentioned above are as follows (it requires your login password by sudo):

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

Be sure to check and use the installation procedure on the official website and the commands displayed after installation.

4. Install Erlang and Elixir by Homebrew

Run the following commands at the terminal:

brew update
brew install elixir

These commands install the latest Erlang and Elixir. If you use only the latest ones, these commands will be the easiest.

4'. Install only Erlang by Homebrew

If you want to install only Erlang, run the following commands at the terminal:

brew update
brew install erlang

4''. Install Erlang and Elixir by `asdf`

Unfortunately, the installation procedure on the official website gets incomplete: unlinked to wx and odbc, lack of documents, etc.

4''-1. Install `asdf` by Homebrew

Install asdf by Homebrew according to the official website. I'll show the commands as follows, but you should check the official website:

brew install asdf
echo -e "\n. $(brew --prefix asdf)/libexec/asdf.sh" >> ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zshrc
source ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zshrc

4''-2. Install Erlang by `asdf`

This step is the most important. Firstly, install pre-requisite libraries:

asdf plugin add erlang https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf-erlang.git
brew install wxwidgets
brew install openjdk
echo 'export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk/bin:$PATH"' >> ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zshrc
source ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zshrc
brew install fop

Then, set the environment variables KERL_CONFIGURE_OPTION, CC and LDFLAGS as follows:

export KERL_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS="--with-ssl=$(brew --prefix openssl@1.1) --with-odbc=$(brew --prefix unixodbc)"
export CC="/usr/bin/clang -I$(brew --prefix unixodbc)/include" 
export LDFLAGS=-L$(brew --prefix unixodbc)/lib

If you will install Erlang/OTP 24.2+ and use OpenSSL 3, install OpenSSL 3 and reset KERL_CONFIGURE_OPTION:

brew install openssl@3
export KERL_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS="--with-ssl=$(brew --prefix openssl@3) --with-odbc=$(brew --prefix unixodbc)"

I got the solution to link odbc by referring this issue: https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf-erlang/issues/191

Next, if you'll install the latest one, run the following commands:

asdf install erlang latest
asdf global erlang latest

You can get the versions that can be installed as follows:

asdf list-all erlang

Unfortunately, some specific older versions cannot be installed into Apple Silicon Mac.

If you'll install OTP 22, follow this issue: https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf-erlang/issues/221

After installation, unset CC and LDFLAGS:

unset CC LDFLAGS

4''-3. Install Elixir by `asdf`

Install the Elixir plugin by asdf according to the official website.

asdf plugin-add elixir https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf-elixir.git

Next, if you'll install the latest one, run the following commands:

asdf install elixir latest
asdf global elixir latest

You can get the versions that can be installed as follows:

asdf list-all elixir

Summary

You'll get Elixir and Erlang on Apple Silicon as the steps mentioned above.

DEV Community: Susumu Yamazaki

Install Erlang, Elixir, Phoenix, and Nerves automatically to machines on macOS and Ubuntu by Ansible and Asdf

Prerequisite

inventory.yml

ansible.cfg

Tasks

Install Asdf for Ubuntu

Install Asdf for macOS

Install prerequisite libraries for Erlang on Ubuntu

Install prerequisite libraries for Erlang on macOS

Install prerequisite libraries for Nerves on Ubuntu

Install prerequisite libraries for Nerves on macOS

Install Erlang plugin

Install Elixir plugin

Install Erlang

Install Elixir

Install Phoenix

Install Nerves

Playbooks

Install Asdf

Install prerequisites of Erlang

Install prerequisites of Nerves

Install plugins

Install Erlang and Elixir

Install Phoenix

Install Nerves

Usage

Aspiration for evision (Aspiration for 2022)

The Origin of the Programming "Paradigm" by the Combination of Enum Functions and Pipeline Operators

Dec. 17, 2021. To: José Valim

Dec. 28, 2021. From: José Valim

Pelemay Backend (Aspirations for 2022)

Aspirations for 2022

Perfect Steps of Installing Erlang and Elixir to Apple Silicon Mac (2021 Dec edition)

1. Upgrade macOS (if M1)

2. Install Xcode 13.2.1 (optional)

3. Install Homebrew

4. Install Erlang and Elixir by Homebrew

4'. Install only Erlang by Homebrew

4''. Install Erlang and Elixir by asdf

4''-1. Install asdf by Homebrew

4''-2. Install Erlang by asdf

4''-3. Install Elixir by asdf

Summary

4''. Install Erlang and Elixir by `asdf`

4''-1. Install `asdf` by Homebrew

4''-2. Install Erlang by `asdf`

4''-3. Install Elixir by `asdf`