“Learn You Some Erlang” is a book about the Erlang programming language by Fred Hébert. It’s useful, informative, and hilarious.

I’ve been touching Erlang on and off for the last few years, but more recently (now that I work with many Erlang users and community members at Basho). I took a class in some of the OTP behaviors last spring, but never really picked it up. Reading this book not only provides more narrative, but provides a nice structure for using the OTP concepts even without knowing them previously.

While API documentation for Erlang is easy to find (c.f. erlang.org and erldocs.com), Learn You Some Erlang provides a nice structure for actually using the concepts in example applications, which leads nicely into production applications.

The book has great and funny illustrations; technical yet with a nod to the whimsical, without being inscrutable and self-indulgent. It’s not Dr. Strangelove funny, but the humor makes it memorable.

If you’re interested in Erlang, this is the Erlang book to read. You can read “Learn You Some Erlang” online for free or buy it from Amazon.

The publisher, No Starch Press, provided a review copy for me, but I mostly read the online version.