Erlang and OTP in Action

Chapter 2. Erlang language essentials

This chapter covers

• Working interactively in the Erlang shell
• Data types, modules, functions, and compiling your code
• Single-assignment variables and pattern matching
• Erlang language survival guide
• How to program with recursion

In the previous chapter, we talked about the underlying platform for Erlang and OTP, but not much about the Erlang programming language. The focus of this book isn’t on Erlang in itself; but before can you move on to programming with Erlang/OTP design patterns, we want to go through the language basics to make sure everyone is on the same page. This chapter will also serve as a reference as you work your way through the book.

This is a long chapter. If you already know Erlang, you ...