Take off with Elixir

by Rob Conery

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Max Strother · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, which can be also bought as a video series, is an amazingly smooth introduction to Elixir that goes to a fairly dark depth of complexity. So much so, that I have decided to stick my head from underneath my anonymous stone just to leave it a review! Yey!

Most, if not all, aspects of it are worthy of praise, so, lets start with the setting: The author created a very pleasant way of sharing knowledge, in what might be called a pair programming simulated situation of getting a task at work done. Oh, but don't think this is a regular request - the two of you are in on a mission to create a fairly complex system for astronauts to use in space! As one of the things, you will need data from space stations to make accurate predictions so that they won't get obliterated with a solar flare. Now, I can't really imagine that this could sound boring to anyone, but if that is somehow the case, don't worry, because the material contained is worthy of your time nonetheless.

The pacing is, as mentioned, wonderful as well; It starts at 0 and goes to 100 in a time that doesn't disturb you or throw you off balance, but instead, makes it feel like you are in a highly optimized futuristic vehicle which is letting you enjoy all of its power and fidelity. Here comes the only real problem that I have with it actually - I wish the whole trip would be way longer, but that doesn't mean it is short! Rob goes over all of the necessary topics in a way that makes you really get the concept currently covered in a way that isn't typical to materials on programming. It is so pleasant that I just would like to make several more trips with him.

If I were to compare the range of topics to the more known Programming Elixir 1.3, I would say that it covers quite a similar amount of ground, although, due to the way it is presented, it sometimes covers only the necessary things for The Grand Mission, it does show some other cool things at the end though, as a bonus. But the comparison isn't really all that fair; the book is different and, in being as such, it takes you on a journey which involves writing code, then refactoring it, then writing some more, refactoring it a bit more, and so on, with a nice amount of writing tests, all properly separated in isolated modules that follow the Elixir way of doing things.

As an end note I will admit that I actually read the book while also watching the videos (the two are almost exactly the same). Robs voice is very pleasant to the ear, and the videos are well edited with a great theme music that is slowly growing the further you get into the material. I would recommend getting both as they cost less that way, and you can always opt out of one if it doesn't float your boat~.