Pricing and Dates

$1395 Alumni and Groups of 5+
$1695 Early Bird!
$1995 Regular

Notify

The Erlang Studio is a hands-on training course where you'll learn how to build concurrent, distributed applications from one of the creators of Erlang.

Through a series of mini-projects guided by two expert instructors, you'll gain hands-on experience with the concepts taught in the book Programming Erlang and learn handy tips and tricks along the way.

  • Stay ahead of the curve, and invest in the future, by learning Erlang now.
  • Understand the benefits and style of functional programming.
  • Build highly parallel, networked, and fault-tolerant systems in a language designed for the chaotic real world.
  • Take advantage of the extra power (and speed) of multicore devices.
  • Learn hard-won Erlang lessons, tips, and techniques from one of the creators of Erlang.

“I'm really excited... because I think Erlang's style of message-passing concurrency is just what we need as we enter the multi-core world, and also because I think its functional roots are an interesting way of thinking about programming.”

— Dave Thomas

Who Teaches the Studio?

Joe Armstrong and Dave Thomas. In this Studio you'll be guided by two experienced instructors—we're confident there's no duo better qualified to teach programmers how to start using Erlang.

Joe Armstrong designed and implemented the first version of Erlang in 1986 and was the chief software architect of the project which produced the Erlang OTP system. He's the author of the premier reference for Erlang— Programming Erlang— and he has taught Erlang to hundreds of programmers. Joe has a PhD in computer science from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden (where he currently resides) and is an expert in the construction of fault tolerant systems. He has worked as an entrepreneur in one of the first Erlang startups (Bluetail) and has worked for 30 years in industry and research.

Dave Thomas has helped thousands of programmers around the world become better programmers. He'd never admit it, and that's exactly why people love Dave's teaching style. Dave has a knack for explaining complex things in ways that make you go "Ah!". He claims he's been writing software since the mid '70s, and hopes one day to get it right. He's the co-author of The Pragmatic Programmer, Programming Ruby, and Agile Web Development with Rails. He co-teaches many of the Pragmatic Studios and along with Andy Hunt they run The Pragmatic Bookshelf.

Who’s It For?

Experienced Programmers. This Studio is taught by programmers for programmers. You do not need prior experience with Erlang, but you must have hands-on programming experience in another language. Over the course of three days, you'll be writing Erlang code through a series of hands-on programming exercises.

This Studio is right for you if:

  • You’re currently programming in an object-oriented or functional programming language
  • You have a good understanding of network programming
  • You've perhaps read the Erlang book, but want to gain a deeper understanding of the concepts and learn first-hand how to write Erlang programs

As this Studio assumes no prior experience with Erlang, this Studio is not ideal for folks who already have project-level experience with Erlang or who are looking for deeper instruction on the Erlang OTP libraries.

What Will I Learn?

Dave Thomas and student

How to start writing highly parallel, distributed, fault-tolerant systems. This isn't a language reference course or bullet-list overview of Erlang. It's an interactive workshop where you'll learn how to build reliable, concurrent, high-performance systems by actually doing it. Some of the topics we'll cover include:

  • What functional programming is all about, and when it's the best tool for the job
  • How to write sequential and concurrent Erlang programs, and how to handle errors
  • Distributing programs on the network and making them collaborate to get work done efficiently
  • An introduction to the OTP libraries for building industrial-scale applications in Erlang
  • Designing systems to take advantage of Erlang's benefits
  • Approaches to testing concurrent, distributed systems
  • Getting the most out of Erlang with hard-won lessons, tips, tricks, and best practices

What's a Studio Like?

Interactive Learning. You'll learn in a significantly different way in a Studio than by reading through the books. Attending a Studio complements what you may have read, but in a hands-on, collaborative environment where you'll:

  • get your questions answered by the experts and your peers
  • learn through hands-on programming exercises
  • discuss up-to-date topics, tips, and tricks
  • discover new techniques in live coding sessions
  • reinforce the concepts you've learned in the books

We think Studio offers the best developer training around. But don't take our word for it. Just ask our alumni. Check out their reviews and applications they've built! The Studio experience continues after the Studio with our private alumni mailing list.

“Certainly one of the best training experiences I've ever had...The materials are good, the guys are experts and the entire thing was fun—which is hard to say about any training program.”

—Hunter Hillegas

What Should I Bring?

Prag Studio Attendees

You and Your Laptop. It wouldn't be a hands-on course if you didn't walk away having written some code. You'll be most productive on the laptop you use regularly. (On average, 60% of attendees bring Mac OS X, 30% bring Windows, and 10% bring Linux.)

A few weeks before the Studio, we'll send out detailed instructions for installing everything you'll need. During the Studio, you'll get hands-on experience working through prepared exercises, and experimenting on your own, too.

Your Registration Includes

  • A continental breakfast, continuous beverages and snacks, and a hot lunch buffet each day
  • A binder with all the printed material
  • All the example source code to refer back to later
  • Internet connectivity and power during the Studio
  • An invitation to our alumni-only mailing list for help after the Studio
  • Discounts on books, screencasts, and future training
  • A stylish Pragmatic Studio t-shirt and more!

Notify