Elixir and Phoenix for Beginners

Elixir is the modern, powerful programming language designed for massive scale and reliability, perfectly suited for today’s concurrent web applications. Built on the proven Erlang virtual machine (BEAM), Elixir empowers developers to build fast, fault-tolerant systems that simply do not crash. This book provides a clear, sequential path for beginners to master the functional programming mindset, preparing you to leverage these cutting-edge tools in a professional environment.

This book is a hands-on guide to building reliable, scalable software with Elixir and Phoenix. You will develop a solid functional mindset before moving to the BEAM’s powerful concurrency model with lightweight processes and OTP. You will learn to design resilient services with GenServers and supervision trees, test confidently with ExUnit, and automate everyday tasks with Mix. You will also build and deploy web services using the Phoenix Framework and Ecto database interaction. Also, by using practical examples and hands-on exercises, readers will learn Elixir's syntax and basic data types.

By the end of this book, you will be fully equipped to handle Elixir projects. You will gain the practical skills and confidence needed to successfully develop, deploy, and maintain your own robust, scalable, and fault-tolerant Elixir applications in a real-world environment.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
● Understand FP and BEAM processes.
● Write resilient OTP services.
● Build Phoenix apps with Ecto and components.
● Test with ExUnit and ship Mix releases.
● Apply everything via a TDD capstone project.
● Create dynamic UIs with Phoenix Components.
● Comprehend Elixir syntax and basic data structures.
● Interact with databases using the Ecto library.

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
This book is for beginners and working developers switching to Elixir, backend or full-stack engineers from Node.js, PHP, or Python, and students learning FP and concurrency, or anyone seeking a practical, project-driven intro to Elixir, OTP, Phoenix, and Ecto for production.

1. Introduction to Elixir and Functional Programming
2. Elixir Syntax and Data Types
3. Elixir Collections and Pattern Matching
4. Concurrent Programming in Elixir
5. Understanding Distributed Systems
6. Mix Tooling, Testing, and Debugging in Elixir
7. Elixir Metaprogramming
8. Working with Phoenix and Ecto
9. Creating Deployable Releases
10. Build Phoenix Components for Real-world Apps
11. Project on Building Real-world Application
12. Future Directions

Karthikeyan Paramasivan is a seasoned backend developer with over a decade of experience in building web applications across diverse domains. He has worked extensively with Elixir, Phoenix, Node.js, PHP, and AWS, and is passionate about designing secure, scalable, production-ready systems and distributed systems.

He began his career in 2009 as a PHP programmer, earning the Zend PHP5 certification early on. Over time, he expanded his expertise to modern technologies, contributing to projects in logistics, finance, insurance, and large-scale real-time applications. His journey into Elixir started with building a ridesharing application similar to Uber, and since then, he has been deeply involved in creating Elixir- and Phoenix-based solutions for complex business needs.

David’s development philosophy centers around writing clean code, applying best practices, and following robust security standards. Beyond his professional work, he is an advocate for continuous learning and knowledge sharing. With this book, he brings his practical insights and experience to beginners, helping them understand Elixir step by step through examples, exercises, and a real-world project.