ELIXIR TUTORIAL

BASIC TYPES

Interactive Elixir (iex)

Type iex in the command line to enter the shell for Erlang /OTP environment.

FOUR TYPES

 Atoms
 Strings
 Tuples
 Lists
 Maps

Elixir have two file types;

 .exs: are intended for scripting and they stay in memory when run or executed.
 .ex: are compiled to byte code and written to disk in a beam file.

ATOMS

It is a constant where its name is a value. Atoms are memory efficient.

Example:
C:\Users\essie>iex

Interactive Elixir (1.5.1) - press Ctrl+C to exit (type h() ENTER for help)

iex(1)> :firstname

:firstname

iex(2)> :"this is also atom"

:"this is also atom"

iex(3)> IO.puts(:"this is also atom")

this is also atom

:ok

iex(4)>

Atoms have returning values:

{:ok, content}

{:error, reason}

Atoms have Boolean

:true

:false
Example:

Inspect the Boolean true and false.

iex(7)> i false

Term

false

Data type

Atom

Reference modules

Atom

iex(4)> i true

Term

true

Data type

Atom

Reference modules

Atom

STRINGS

Format “sting_name”

Example:
iex(1)> euro = "#"

"#"

iex(2)> byte_size(euro)

iex(3)> String.length(euro)

iex(4)> name = "Hello, "

"Hello, "

iex(5)> hello = "Nana"

"Nana"

iex(6)> name <> hello

"Hello, Nana"
<>: concatenation

Example:
iex(7)> handle = "nana_yaw"

"nana_yaw"

iex(8)> "My tweeter handle is @#{handle}. Feel free to send a message."

"My tweeter handle is @nana_yaw. Feel free to send a message."

TUPLES

An ordered collection used for storing a peace of data, is use for two, three or four values.

Format: {“items”, ”items”}

Example:
iex(1)> book={"Programming Book", "Dave", 25.00}

{"Programming Book", "Dave", 25.0}

iex(2)> elem(book, 2)

25.0

iex(3)> put_elem(book, 2, 49.00)

{"Programming Book", "Dave", 49.0}

iex(4)> book

{"Programming Book", "Dave", 25.0}

LISTS

Lists is used for storing much more data

Elixir list is Single-Linked List

Format: [listitem, “listitem2”]

Example:
Interactive Elixir (1.5.1) - press Ctrl+C to exit (type h() ENTER for help)

iex(1)> first_list = [1,2,3]

[1, 2, 3]

iex(2)> second_list = [:ok, 1, "test", first_list]

[:ok, 1, "test", [1, 2, 3]]

iex(3)> hd(first_list)
1

iex(4)> tl(first_list)

[2, 3]

iex(5)> third_list = [1 | [2,3]]

[1, 2, 3]

iex(6)> fourth_list = [1 | [2 | [3 | []]]]

[1, 2, 3]

iex(7)> [:ok | first_list]

[:ok, 1, 2, 3]

iex(8)> [a,b,c] = first_list

[1, 2, 3]

iex(9)> a

iex(10)> b

iex(11)> c

iex(12)> [head | tail ] = first_list

[1, 2, 3]

iex(13)> head

iex(14)> tail

[2, 3]

iex(15)> options = [{:is_active, false}, {:notify_user, true}, {:created_if_not_exists, true}]

[is_active: false, notify_user: true, created_if_not_exists: true]

iex(16)> options[:notify_user]

true

IMMUTABILITY

In elixir, data is immutable, meaning that if the data is created, it cannot change.

Example:
Interactive Elixir (1.5.1) - press Ctrl+C to exit (type h() ENTER for help)

iex(1)> languages = ["Java", "PHP", "C"]

["Java", "PHP", "C"]

iex(2)> List.insert_at(languages, 0, "C++")

["C++", "Java", "PHP", "C"]

IMMUTABILITY BENEFITS

1. It provides concurrency of immutable data

2. It reuses memory

MAPS

Are collections of key value pairs.

Format: %{key => {“mapitem”}}

Similarities of lists and maps are collections of items that have a key and a value.

Differences

MAPS: the key does not have to an atom; it can be any type. It only allows one instance of each key.

MAPS are more efficient that Lists.

Keyword Lists don’t have that constraints

Example
iex(1)> my_map = %{1 => {"Nana", "Yaw"}, 2 => {"Mark", "Annafi"}}

%{1 => {"Nana", "Yaw"}, 2 => {"Mark", "Annafi"}}

iex(2)> other_map = %{:names => ["Nana Yaw", "Mark Annafi"], "gender"=> "male"}

%{:names => ["Nana Yaw", "Mark Annafi"], "gender" => "male"}

iex(3)> another_map = %{{:ok, 1} => true, {:ok, 2} =>false}

%{{:ok, 1} => true, {:ok, 2} => false}

iex(4)> other_map["gender"]

"male"

iex(5)> other_map.names

["Nana Yaw", "Mark Annafi"]

iex(6)> %{:names => names_lists} = other_map

%{:names => ["Nana Yaw", "Mark Annafi"], "gender" => "male"}

iex(7)> names_lists

["Nana Yaw", "Mark Annafi"]

MODULES AND FUNCTIONS

MODULES

Modules have 3 purpose;

 They serve to annotate the module, often with information to be used by the user or
the VM.
 They work as constants.
 They work as a temporary module storage to be used during compilation.

Example:

Coding the .exs file;

defmodule ModulePlaygroup do

def say_hello do

IO.puts "Hello World Elixir"

end

end

Compile in terminal
C:\Users\essie\Desktop>iex "module_playgroup.exs"

Interactive Elixir (1.5.1) - press Ctrl+C to exit (type h() ENTER for help)

iex(1)> ModulePlaygroup.say_hello

Hello World

:ok

iex(2)> r(ModulePlaygroup)

warning: redefining module ModulePlaygroup (current version defined in memory)

module_playgroup.exs:1

{:reloaded, ModulePlaygroup, [ModulePlaygroup]}

iex(3)> ModulePlaygroup.say_hello

Hello World Elixir

:ok

MODULES DIRECTIVES

1. IMPORT: Include module functions. Includes/Excludes specific functions from specific modules

Example:

Coding the .exs file;

defmodule ModulePlaygroup do

import IO, only: [puts: 1]

import Kernel, except: [inspect: 1]

 def say_hello do

inspect "Hello World Elixir"

end

def inspect(param1) do

puts "Starting Output"

puts param1

puts "Ending output"

end

end

Compile in terminal
iex(2)> r(ModulePlaygroup)

warning: redefining module ModulePlaygroup (current version defined in memory)

module_playgroup.exs:1

{:reloaded, ModulePlaygroup, [ModulePlaygroup]}

iex(3)> ModulePlaygroup.say_hello

Starting Output

Hello World Elixir

Ending output

:ok

2. ALIAS: Reduce typing module names. Renaming modules in your modules

Example:

Coding the .exs file;

defmodule ModulePlaygroup do

import IO, only: [puts: 1]

import Kernel, except: [inspect: 1]

alias ModulePlaygroup.Misc.Util.Math, as: MyMath

def say_hello do

inspect "Hello World Elixir"

end

def inspect(param1) do
 puts "Starting Output"

puts param1

puts "Ending output"

end

def print_sum do

MyMath.add(1,2)

end

end

defmodule ModulePlaygroup.Misc.Util.Math do

def add(a,b) do

a+b

end

end

Compile in Terminal
iex "module_playgroup.exs"

Interactive Elixir (1.5.1) - press Ctrl+C to exit (type h() ENTER for help)

iex(1)> import_file("misc_util_maths.exs")

{:module, ModulePlaygroup.Misc.Util.Math,

<<70, 79, 82, 49, 0, 0, 3, 200, 66, 69, 65, 77, 65, 116, 85, 56, 0, 0, 0, 109,

0, 0, 0, 9, 37, 69, 108, 105, 120, 105, 114, 46, 77, 111, 100, 117, 108, 101,

80, 108, 97, 121, 103, 114, 111, 117, 112, ...>>, {:add, 2}}

iex(2)> ModulePlaygroup.print_sum

iex(3)> r(ModulePlaygroup)

warning: redefining module ModulePlaygroup (current version defined in memory)

module_playgroup.exs:1

{:reloaded, ModulePlaygroup, [ModulePlaygroup]}

iex(4)> ModulePlaygroup.print_sum

3
3. REQUIRE: Allows using macros in your module that will depend upon.

Example:

Coding the .exs file

defmodule ModulePlaygroup do

import IO, only: [puts: 1]

import Kernel, except: [inspect: 1]

alias ModulePlaygroup.Misc.Util.Math, as: MyMath

require Integer

def say_hello do

inspect "Hello World Elixir"

end

def inspect(param1) do

puts "Starting Output"

puts param1

puts "Ending output"

end

def print_sum do

MyMath.add(1,2)

end

def is_even(num) do

puts "Is #{num} even? #{Integer.is_even(num)}"

end

end

defmodule ModulePlaygroup.Misc.Util.Math do

def add(a,b) do

a+b

end

end
Compile in Terminal
iex(5)> r(ModulePlaygroup)

warning: redefining module ModulePlaygroup (current version defined in memory)

module_playgroup.exs:1

{:reloaded, ModulePlaygroup, [ModulePlaygroup]}

iex(6)> ModulePlaygroup.is_even(1)

Is 1 even? false

:ok

iex(7)> ModulePlaygroup.is_even(2)

Is 2 even? true

:ok

iex(8)> ModulePlaygroup.is_even(4)

Is 4 even? true

:ok

iex(9)>