// the find
dwyl/learn-elixir
:droplet: Learn the Elixir programming language to build functional, fast, scalable and maintainable web applications!
A single sprawling README-as-tutorial for Elixir fundamentals (types, pattern matching, mix, processes), backed by 100+ small runnable .ex/.exs example scripts covering everything from fizzbuzz to macros and OTP servers. Aimed at total beginners deciding whether to pick up Elixir/Phoenix, not at anyone who already knows the language.
The examples/ directory is the actual asset here — dozens of small, focused, runnable scripts (spawn/link/monitor, macros with quote/hygiene, protocols, typespecs) that go noticeably deeper than the 'basic types' prose in the README. There's a CI workflow that presumably runs/formats these, so they're less likely to be stale copy-paste snippets. It also gives multiple on-ramps for different learning styles: a browser playground link, a Livebook notebook, and a Docker one-liner for people who don't want to install Erlang/Elixir locally just to try it.
The README itself is bloated with bold text and emoji on nearly every line, which makes it slower to scan for the actual technical content than official docs or elixirschool.com (which the README links to and calls 'excellent' — undercutting its own reason to exist). The narrative arc stops at basic spawn/send/receive; it never gets the reader to a GenServer or Supervisor, which is the actual selling point repeated six times in the intro ('fault-tolerant', 'supervisors restart parts of your system'), so finishing the tutorial doesn't leave you with hands-on OTP experience despite the pitch. There's no index tying the 15+ topic folders in examples/ back to specific README sections, so it's unclear which scripts are meant to be run alongside which part of the text versus leftover/unlinked material. 112 forks against 1700+ stars is a pattern typical of bookmarked-and-forgotten tutorials rather than something people actively work through and extend.