[Grad-Cap Icon] Training

Erlang is one of the unknown giants in the world of programming languages. It was created by Ericsson in the mid-80s as a proprietary language to power that company`s telecom switches. It has since been fully open-sourced, and is used today to power things like:

• IM servers - eJabberd, WhatsApp
• Distributed databases - CouchDB, Riak, etc.
• Server provisioning tools - Chef
• Social media tools - Twitterfall
• Gaming servers - Call of Duty, League of Legends, etc.

In this course, you will receive an introduction to Erlang, and to functional-paradigm programming in general. We will cover core concepts like referential transparency, hot code replacement, message passing, and list comprehension. Hands-on programming tutorials and instruction will be provided for the above examples via individual sandbox environments. The focus will be on using these tools and techniques to build enterprise-grade applications targeting zero-downtime.

Upon exiting the course, students should be able to perform the following tasks:

• Describe the distinguishing characteristics of functional-paradigm programming
• Describe when a language like Erlang should be used, and when it should be avoided
• Build simple applications in Erlang utilizing referential transparency, hot code swapping, list comprehension, and message passing
• Utilize online documentation for Erlang to begin developing more complex applications

In-class lab work will be performed via remote access to individual, per-student virtual machines. BYOD will not be supported for this course.