A Few Improvements to Erlang
summary
Argues for a concrete language change: make module forms evaluate as expressions with side effects so the shell, modules and escripts share the same input syntax; implements erl2 that compiles those defining-forms into normal Erlang and runs simple unit tests at compile time so failed tests stop compilation. Adds let-rec local functions, compile‑time partial evaluation instead of macros, timeline deltas for module evolution, and paragraph-level doc comments (docuforums).
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chapters (23)
- 0:00Introduction
- 0:51Where does it start
- 4:53Y combinator
- 5:26Early vowels
- 6:15Modules
- 7:12Shell
- 8:07Forms
- 8:23New Language
- 9:25Meta Programming
- 9:57Goals
- 12:56Module Classification
- 15:22Defining Functions
- 15:59Module Changes
- 16:29Module Lists
- 17:14System Evolution
- 17:53Deltas
- 18:30Intentionality
- 19:59Cloning
- 20:21The Bigger Picture
- 20:40The Inspiration
- 21:17Comments
- 29:47Programmers Workbench
- 34:01Ideas
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