Erlang Open Source Projects: A Comprehensive Guide
Erlang is a distinct and powerful functional programming language, renowned for its scalability, fault tolerance, and high availability. Due to its unique strengths, Erlang has been utilized in diverse applications, from distributed systems to real-time communication. This comprehensive guide will explore several notable open source projects that are written in Erlang, highlighting their unique features and how they leverage the language.
Introduction to Erlang
Erlang, first released in 1998 by the telecommunications company Ericsson, was designed for building highly reliable and distributed systems. It is known for its concurrency model, lightweight processes, and hot swapping capabilities, making it ideal for mission-critical applications where downtime is unacceptable.
Notable Open Source Projects in Erlang
1. Disco
Disco is an amazing distributed map reduce framework implemented in Erlang, which offers a compelling alternative to traditional Hadoop. Unlike Hadoop, Disco leverages Python for its flexibility and ease of use, while still delivering the same robustness and scalability. Disco is particularly suitable for data processing applications that require distributed computing and fault tolerance.
2. Cowboy
Developed by Basho Technologies, Cowboy is a high-performance web server built on top of the Erlang Virtual Machine (VM). Designed to be both modular and scalable, Cowboy is heavily used in web applications that demand highly efficient and reliable performance. It is especially useful in real-time applications where constant interaction with users is required, such as chat applications or gaming servers.
3. Chicago Boss
Chicago Boss is a web application framework built on top of the Erlang runtime. It provides a straightforward and powerful way to build web applications, making it ideal for startups and small to medium-sized projects. The framework emphasizes simplicity and speed, offering a QuickStart guide to help new developers get up to speed quickly.
4. Riak
Riak is a distributed key-value database, compatible with Apache Cassandra and Amazon SimpleDB. Riak is designed to scale horizontally, providing eventual consistency and fault tolerance. With its robust design, Riak is often used in applications where performance and availability are critical, and data replication is essential.
5. RabbitMQ
RabbitMQ is a message broker that supports both AMQP and MQTT protocols. Built on the Erlang VM, RabbitMQ provides a highly reliable, scalable, and flexible messaging service. It is excellent for implementing pub/sub models and ensuring that data processing can scale to meet the growing demands of real-time applications.
6. Zotonic
Zotonic is a CMS framework that provides a platform for efficient content management. Using Erlang, Zotonic is capable of handling complex web applications seamlessly, while offering a user-friendly interface for non-technical users. It is built for flexibility and scalability, making it ideal for content-driven websites and intranets.
7. Bitcask
Bitcask is a data store that is part of the Riak project. It is optimized for write-heavy workloads and provides efficient storage and retrieval of key-value pairs. Bitcask is designed to be performant and fault-tolerant, making it suitable for a wide range of distributed systems.
8. ejabberd
ejabberd is an open source Erlang-based XMPP server, designed to provide secure and robust messaging services. It is widely used in enterprise solutions, chat applications, and IoT ecosystems, offering leading-edge performance and reliability. ejabberd is known for its flexibility and ease of deployment, making it a preferred choice for many organizations.
9. MongooseIM
MongooseIM is an open source IM (Instant Messaging) server written in Erlang. It offers a powerful and flexible solution for implementing real-time messaging services, with support for XMPP (jabber) protocols. MongooseIM is known for its high performance and easy extensibility, making it ideal for building scalable messaging solutions.
10. Elixir
Elixir is a new dynamic language designed to run on the Erlang VM (BEAM). It brings functional programming and MVC (Model-View-Controller) design to Erlang, making it easier and more intuitive for developers to work with. Elixir is gaining popularity for its expressive syntax, powerful macros, and seamless integration with Erlang.
11. Erjang
Erjang is an implementation of Erlang that runs on the JVM (Java Virtual Machine). It allows developers to run Erlang code in Java environments, providing the flexibility of being able to integrate with existing Java applications while benefiting from Erlang's unique advantages.
Conclusion
The list of open source projects built in Erlang is vast and diverse, showcasing the versatility and power of the language. From distributed databases to web servers and messaging systems, Erlang's unique strengths make it an excellent choice for building high-performance, scalable, and fault-tolerant systems. As these projects continue to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative applications emerge from the Erlang community.