alpaca

You may prefer alpaca[1] which is in the ML family and on the BEAM. Someone could target Core Erlang [2] or BEAM byte code directly and offer a pluggable frontend for different syntax, Mix would almost allow that. I think it's just a huge lift to make happen and get everything to play nicely with BEAM semantics. But that's just like my opinion. [1] https://github.com/alpaca-lang/alpaca [2] https://blog.erlang.org/core-erlang-by-example/

You could look into Gleam [1] and Alpaca [2]. [1] https://gleam.run [2] https://github.com/alpaca-lang/alpaca

I think this is right on point. The BEAM is finely tuned for a specific problem and it solves it beautifully in a way that is extremely hard to replicate unless you actually are willing to invest in some kind of run time (which instantly makes you ineligible for consideration in a lot of peoples' minds). Every language that has tried, as far as I know, has done so as an afterthought and obviously does not end up replicating the important parts. Knowing that, it's perhaps more pertinent to talk about what you can actually bring to that VM. Alpaca [0] could potentially be the solution. Interoperation with the rest of the VM languages and static typing on top of that. I have no doubt that most of the community would simply not use it, because they don't care about static typing, but I have zero reservations about saying it would be a better

At least a couple: * https://github.com/alpaca-lang/alpaca * https://github.com/wende/elchemy

Agreed. BEAM is absolutely fantastic, and having other languages to be able to leverage its power can only be a good thing. I have high hopes for Alpaca personally, a super modern ML that targets BEAM. I think that in a similar way to how an APL-like would allow leveraging BEAMs building blocks in unique ways, an ML type system that’s aware of BEAM would allow for some seriously powerful, seriously correct programs. There’s a lot of research into algebras for concurrent and parallel processing, which slot nicely into ML-likes. https://github.com/alpaca-lang/alpaca/blob/master/README.md

Personally I'm waiting for Alpaca :) https://github.com/alpaca-lang/alpaca

I guess your job is mine now :) https://github.com/alpaca-lang/alpaca

if you want to get started but don't know where this is a good place to start: http://spawnedshelter.com/ there's a online course by Simon Thompson from the University of Kent that started 2 days ago, you may be able to join: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/functional-programming-e... if you like the ideas but want to try something different there are alternative languages that run on the Erlang VM: * Elixir with a ruby-like syntax: https://elixir-lang.org/ * LFE (Lisp Flavoured Erlang): http://lfe.io/ * Efene with a python-like syntax: http://efene.org/ and one in development but already looking really interesting: Alpaca, an ML inspired language: https://github.com/alpaca-lang/alpaca

Good news, there is indeed Alpaca: ML for the BEAM. https://github.com/alpaca-lang/alpaca

> it is just a shame that there isn't some ML like language that compiles to Erlang bytecode. There is! https://github.com/alpaca-lang/alpaca It's very new, though. I wouldn't write production stuff in it just yet.

> My dream is still a statically-typed version of Erlang. Your (our) dream is about to come true: https://github.com/j14159/mlfe

I think it could be a mistake to put this out there when it's still so early. The features are not there(0) yet and it's likely to be overhauled a lot. It's an extremely exciting proposition and I both hope and think it will become a force to be reckoned with in the erlang community. (The name is currently not well accepted on the erlang mailing list, by the way, but is yet to be commented on by j14159) 0 - https://github.com/j14159/mlfe#whats-missing