Advanced Datatypes and High Level Constructs in Erlang is a one day introductory course that will take you on a tour of more advanced Erlang topics, such as list comprehension and high order functions. You will learn how to use binaries, the powerful bit syntax and to wrap things up with the pre-processor macros. Good and bad programming practices are discussed. Course Contents
Records and Funs
The syntax and semantics of records is introduced, with a special emphasis on pattern matching. Funs are
covered, as are higher order functions. Plenty of examples are given for both constructs.
Advanced Constructs
List comprehensions and their usage are explained. References are discussed. This is followed by Binaries,
and the Bit syntax, where pattern matching can be applied directly to incoming structures. Lastly, bit wise
and logical operators are described. This section also covers Macros, with examples on how they can be
used for debugging purposes.
Style and Efficiency
This section gives an introduction to writing efficient Erlang Programs. The efficiency section describes how binaries can be used to handle large amounts of data which have to be sent between processes, how tail recursion can prevent bursts of memory usage, as well as other simple optimisations based on the implementation of the virtual machine and its garbage collector. It then goes ahead with suggestions and guidelines on how to keep the code neat and readable and terminates with a few slides on coding strategy.
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