

 Erlang and High-Scale System Software   - neilc
http://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2008/05/17/ErlangAndHighSaleSystemSoftware.aspx

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axod
what is it with the constant talk of scalability these days? scalability isn't
to do with a certain language or platform, it's just due to good efficient
design.

~~~
simonw
Some languages and platforms are designed with scalability in mind. Erlang
forces you to write code in terms of message passing between shared-nothing
processes, which means that when you need to scale to multiple cores /
machines your code is already designed to do so. Google AppEngine severely
restricts the kind of operations you can perform (no File I/O, a persistence
engine that doesn't even support aggregate queries) which means that you are
forced to design your application in a way that scales.

~~~
axod
I'm of the opinion that languages/platforms shouldn't force programmers to do
things. It should be the other way around.

~~~
brooksbp
Generally, it is. Just wording / thinking of it the wrong way.

New languages and tools arise because of need. Therefore, if you feel forced
or uncomfortable with your current tools & languages, use different ones.

People who feel forced and don't understand the particular programming model
of Erlang shouldn't be using it. That simple. Google App Engine... that's
another story...

