Examining the Future of Elixir and Cloud Ecosystems

This article, adapted from a talk given at GigCity Elixir in Chattanooga, delves into the trade-offs inherent in software development, particularly in the context of Elixir and its ecosystem. The author, Lars Wikman, discusses the importance of simplicity as highlighted by Gall’s Law and Dijkstra’s principles. The article critiques current cloud services like Fly.io and their promises, focusing on features like geo-distributed databases and object storage, mentioning solutions such as Tigris. It contrasts historical examples like Rails and Erlang to emphasize the importance of alignment and low-cost trade-offs in development stacks. Various frameworks and database technologies such as Phoenix LiveView, Ash Framework, Supabase, and Electric SQL are examined for their potential to create streamlined and scalable Elixir applications.