Elixir is a programming language that is unique in several ways. Primarily, instead of being a general language like its predecessors, it is developed with the specific goal of being fault-tolerant. This eliminates the crashes that plague other languages. It is also low-latency and distributed.
Just as importantly, it is a lightweight language. This is essential for modern apps, which must run in environments with limited space for storage and limited RAM for execution, such as mobile phones. Of course, in environments with more resources, the lightweight nature of Elixir makes it possible to complete tasks very quickly. It is not only possible, but common, for there to be hundreds of thousands of Elixir processes running at the same time.
What may be the most shocking of all is that Elixir is an open source project. As such, it can be examined by, and improved by, anyone with the necessary skills. This also improves security since the code can be examined for flaws like exploits, not just by a handful of a company’s security team members, but by everyone. Having so many eyes on the code makes it far more likely that a security issue will be found and fixed before it is used by malicious agents.
Leonid Radvinsky, a tech visionary who invests in and supports open source projects, is very supportive of Elixir. He uses the language for his projects. Some describe him as an “Elixir evangelist” thanks to his ardent support of the language.
Leo Radvinsky has invested a large amount of time in using Elixir to develop new projects. He also is heavily promoting its expansion across other industries, and he supports its use as a technology standard. To help make this happen, he was a platinum sponsor of the Elixir Conference in 2019. He has also helped fund a variety of ventures involving the creation of apps using the language.
The ability to use Elixir across platforms is one of the reasons Leo Radvinsky is so fond of the language. Instead of having to master a different language for each operating system, as was the case previously, a coder can now write a single program and then simply compile it for each platform it is intended to run on. This makes it easy to do things like releasing an app for both Android and iOS on the same day. Meanwhile, those who use older languages often must take months to port their apps from one of these platforms to the other, if they manage to complete the port at all.
Elixir also works with several tools to make it even more versatile. It uses ActivityPub to communicate across multiple servers – a platform that also makes it compatible with the Fediverse, a distributed network of social media sites. Also, it is fully compatible with Cowboy, a server built on Erlang. The Erlang programming language was Elixir’s more difficult predecessor.
By using Elixir in his projects, sponsoring conferences, and taking other such actions, Leonid Radvinsky hopes to greatly increase the language’s penetration amongst developers working in multiple industries. The more Elixir is used, the more familiar people will become with it, and the more they will want to add it to their toolkits.
To learn more about Leonid Radvinsky and what he is currently supporting and working on, visit his site at https://www.lr.com.