Overview
Master Elixir through progressive tutorials covering 95% of the language. From installation to advanced distributed systems.
Tutorial Levels
We provide 5 tutorial levels with clear coverage percentages:
Initial Setup (0-5% Coverage)
Get Elixir running on your machine and write your first program.
What you’ll learn:
- Install Elixir and OTP
- Verify installation with version checks
- Write and run “Hello, World!”
- Use basic Mix commands and IEx
Who it’s for: Complete beginners to Elixir
Time investment: Foundation for all future learning
Quick Start (5-30% Coverage)
Grasp core concepts quickly to become productive fast.
What you’ll learn:
- 8-12 essential Elixir touchpoints
- Pattern matching, immutability, functions
- Basic data structures and modules
- Mix project basics
Who it’s for: Developers who want rapid productivity
Prerequisites: Initial Setup completed
Beginner Tutorial (0-60% Coverage)
Complete foundation in Elixir fundamentals.
What you’ll learn:
- Full syntax coverage
- Data structures (lists, tuples, maps, structs)
- Pattern matching and guards
- Recursion and comprehensions
- Modules, protocols, and behaviours
- Testing with ExUnit
Who it’s for: Building strong fundamentals
Prerequisites: None (comprehensive from basics)
Intermediate Tutorial (60-85% Coverage)
Production-ready skills with OTP and Phoenix.
What you’ll learn:
- Processes and message passing
- GenServer for state management
- Supervisors and fault tolerance
- Phoenix framework and LiveView
- Ecto for database access
- Configuration and testing strategies
Who it’s for: Building production applications
Prerequisites: Beginner tutorial or equivalent experience
Advanced Tutorial (85-95% Coverage)
Expert-level optimization and distributed systems.
What you’ll learn:
- BEAM VM internals (scheduler, processes, GC)
- Distributed Elixir and multi-node systems
- Metaprogramming and macros
- Performance profiling and optimization
- Umbrella projects
- Deployment strategies with Mix releases
Who it’s for: Optimizing critical systems
Prerequisites: Intermediate tutorial mastery
Learning Path Visualization
%% Color Palette: Blue #0173B2, Orange #DE8F05, Teal #029E73, Purple #CC78BC, Brown #CA9161
graph TD
Start[Start Here] --> Setup[Initial Setup<br/>0-5%]
Setup --> Quick[Quick Start<br/>5-30%]
Quick --> Beginner[Beginner<br/>0-60%]
Beginner --> Intermediate[Intermediate<br/>60-85%]
Intermediate --> Advanced[Advanced<br/>85-95%]
Advanced --> Production[Production Ready!]
Beginner -.-> Cookbook[Cookbook<br/>Quick Reference]
Intermediate -.-> Cookbook
Advanced -.-> Cookbook
style Start fill:#0173B2
style Production fill:#029E73
style Cookbook fill:#DE8F05
How to Use These Tutorials
For Complete Beginners:
- Start with Initial Setup
- Follow to Quick Start
- Complete Beginner tutorial with exercises
- Practice with Cookbook recipes
- Advance to Intermediate when ready
For Experienced Programmers:
- Skim Initial Setup for installation
- Work through Quick Start (focus on Elixir idioms)
- Jump to Intermediate for Phoenix/OTP
- Reference Beginner for syntax questions
For OOP Developers Transitioning:
- Pay attention to “OOP vs FP” comparisons in tutorials
- Study pattern matching (replaces many OOP patterns)
- Understand processes vs objects
- Read Anti-Patterns guide alongside tutorials
Coverage Percentages Explained
Coverage percentages represent depth of knowledge, not time:
- 0-5%: Minimal setup, “Hello, World!”
- 5-30%: Productive quickly with common patterns
- 0-60%: Solid foundation for most applications
- 60-85%: Production-ready web and OTP systems
- 85-95%: Optimization and advanced architecture
The remaining 5% includes specialized topics (e.g., Nerves for embedded, Broadway for data pipelines) covered in future dedicated guides.
Next Steps After Tutorials
- Apply Knowledge: Build a project (Phoenix web app, CLI tool)
- Deepen Understanding: Read Explanation documents
- Solve Problems: Use How-To Guides and Cookbook
- Stay Current: Follow Elixir Forum, ElixirConf talks
Ready to begin? Start with Initial Setup →