Phoenix in Action

by Geoffrey Lessel

SummaryPhoenix is a modern web framework built for the Elixir programming language. Elegant, fault-tolerant, and performant, Phoenix is as easy to use as Rails and as rock-solid as Elixir's Erlang-based foundation. Phoenix in Action builds on your existing web dev skills, teaching you the unique benefits of Phoenix along with just enough Elixir to get the job done.Foreword by Sasa Juric, author of Elixir in Action, Second Edition.Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.About the TechnologyModern web applications need to be efficient to develop, lightning fast, and unfailingly reliable. Phoenix, a web framework for the Elixir programming language, delivers on all counts. Elegant and intuitive, Phoenix radically simplifies the dev process. Built for concurrency, Phoenix channels make short work of developing real-time applications. And as for reliability, Phoenix apps run on the battle-tested Erlang VM, so they're rock solid!About the BookPhoenix in Action is an example-based book that teaches you to build production-quality web apps. You'll handle business logic, database interactions, and app designs as you progressively create an online auction site. As you go, you'll build everything from the core components to the real-time user interactions where Phoenix really shines.What's insideFunctional programming in a web environmentAn introduction to Elixir Database interactions with EctoReal-time communication with channelsAbout the ReaderFor web developers familiar with a framework like Rails or ASP.NET. No experience with Elixir or Phoenix required.About the AuthorGeoffrey Lessel is a seasoned web developer who speaks and blogs about Elixir and Phoenix.Table of ContentsPART 1 - GETTING STARTEDRide the PhoenixIntro to ElixirA little Phoenix overviewPART 2 - DIVING IN DEEPPhoenix is not your applicationElixir application structureBring in PhoenixMaking changes with Ecto.ChangesetTransforming data in your browserPlugs, assigns, and dealing with session dataAssociating records and accepting bidsPART 3 - THOSE IMPORTANT EXTRASUsing Phoenix channels for real-time communicationBuilding an APITesting in Elixir and Phoenix

Genres: Programming

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 26, 2019

Reviews

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the 2 books on Phoenix available on the market (AFAIK), PiA has been finally published, so I jumped on it straight away - I feel strongly connected to Erlang/Elixir ecosystem & even if I'm already more than familiar with Phoenix I need to know what is worth recommending to people who are beginning their journey in the BEAM world. And learning something new on the way is a big pro :)

My expectations were quite high, because Juric's Elixir in Action was perfectly suited for me, I've falling in love with Elixir after reading it (before, I was treating this language as some sort of skunkworks experiment not really worth the attention, because well - we have Erlang, right?).

To keep the long story short, I didn't fall in love with PiA. Why so?
1. Veeeeeery slow start. Instead of focusing on Phoenix itself (& presenting it in more detail) author assumes the reader doesn't know Elixir, so he provides the crashcourse on the language itself. There's short Phoenix intro around page 45, but the real meat starts ... around 152 ... Seriously, who would reach for the book without knowing what Elixir is? I could accept this deficiency if the Elixir intro was truly inspiring, striking, unique & really encouraging to get the reader more hype - nah, it's nothing like that, pretty much a standard one
2. ... and in the consequences the rest of the book is just a sprint through tutorialesque basics - they give you the overview of syntax, without much depth, without indication places for extensibility, without real-life hints and suggestions - ultra brief chapter on plugs, channels, API, testing ... and we're done.

Community was waiting a really long time for this book, but ... I barely see the point of it. It doesn't go far beyond hello world tutorial level - the only advantage is that you have 3 tutorials in the very same place: Elixir, Ecto & Phoenix. If you're interested in learning Phoenix, I strongly suggest reaching for "Programming Phoenix", especially as in 1-2 months this book will get an "upgrade" to cover Phoenix 1.4.

In the end it's 3.2-3.5 stars, rounded down to 3. Sad panda :(

[Vinod Kurup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I got this free at ElixirConf.

A very readable, organized overview of how to set up a Phoenix app. I like how the author makes the clear separation between the functionality of the app and the functionality that Phoenix adds to the app to web-enable it. This doesn't cover LiveView, which was not released at the time.

[Bulent Erdemir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read with easy to follow examples for Phoenix. I think the web project presented in the book is a good start to people who want to write web apps with Phoenix. It covers all the main topics to build a web app as the book goes along with building an auction site. The other approach, possible in writing such a book, which would be, presenting various topics of Phoenix, with independent examples specific to each topic, with deeper information, would contain more detailed information maybe, however, as a newcomer, I'd prefer a whole app to be built from strach, showing -sort of- the big picture in Phoenix development, to me.

On the flip side, however, the Elixir tutorial type intro in the beginning sections are not necessarily to be present in this book as it is about Phoenix, not Elixir.

Overall, I'm good with the book. I'd recommend it to people to learn Phoenix.

[Alexandre González Rodríguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It doesn't cover depth things like OTP or similar, but it's a pretty good book just for Phoenix.