Learn ELIXIR with Real Code Examples
Updated Nov 18, 2025
Explain
Elixir is functional and immutable, running on the battle-tested Erlang VM.
It excels at concurrency, fault tolerance, and massive scalability.
Used for real-time systems, distributed apps, telecom-level reliability, and Phoenix web apps.
Core Features
Functional programming
Immutable data
BEAM concurrency model
OTP behaviours
Pattern matching
Metaprogramming (macros)
Basic Concepts Overview
Pattern matching
Immutability
Processes & messaging
Supervision trees
Mix build tool
OTP behaviours (GenServer, Supervisor)
Project Structure
lib/ modules
mix.exs config
config/ environment configs
test/ folder
rel/ releases
Building Workflow
Generate project using mix new
Write modules & functions
Add dependencies in mix.exs
Run via iex -S mix
Compile & test
Deploy via releases
Difficulty Use Cases
Beginner: basic functions
Intermediate: GenServers & processes
Advanced: OTP & supervision
Expert: distributed systems, clustering
Comparisons
More concurrent and fault-tolerant than Node.js
Simpler concurrency model than Go
Better real-time features than Python/Django
More scalable under load than Ruby on Rails
Versioning Timeline
2011 – Elixir initial release
2014 – v1.0 stable release
2015–2025 – Phoenix, LiveView, OTP improvements
Glossary
BEAM: Erlang VM
OTP: set of libraries for reliability
GenServer: generic server abstraction
Process: lightweight BEAM actor
Supervision tree: fault recovery system