Elixir Learning Projects

A collection of Elixir exercises and examples covering fundamental concepts and advanced topics in functional programming.

📁 Project Structure

code/
├── closures.exs
├── funcs.exs
├── funcsMath.exs
├── lists.exs
├── maps.exs
├── math.exs
├── modules_maps.exs
├── poker_probabilities.exs
├── range_enum.exs
├── recursion.exs
├── simple.exs
├── tuples.exs
├── part1/              # Additional exercises
└── process_intro/      # Mix project - Process basics
    └── lib/
        └── process_intro/
            └── basics_module.ex

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Elixir 1.19.3 or higher
• Erlang/OTP 28 or higher

Running Scripts

For standalone scripts in the root directory:

cd code
elixir script_name.exs

Examples:

elixir recursion.exs
elixir poker_probabilities.exs
elixir closures.exs

Running Mix Projects

For the process_intro Mix project:

cd process_intro
iex.bat -S mix

Then call functions interactively:

iex(1)> ProcessIntro.BasicsModule.main()
Inside the main() process (pid): #PID<0.110.0>
:main_done

📚 Topics Covered

Core Fundamentals (Root Scripts)

File	Topic	Description
simple.exs	Basics	Introduction to Elixir syntax
funcs.exs	Functions	Function definitions and calls
closures.exs	Closures	Anonymous functions and scope
math.exs	Mathematics	Basic arithmetic operations
funcsMath.exs	Math Functions	Advanced mathematical functions
lists.exs	Lists	List operations and transformations
tuples.exs	Tuples	Tuple manipulation
maps.exs	Maps	Map data structure
modules_maps.exs	Modules	Module organization with maps
range_enum.exs	Enumerables	Ranges and Enum module
recursion.exs	Recursion	Recursive algorithms
poker_probabilities.exs	Applied Math	Combinatorics and probability
name_formatter_test.exs	Tests	Testing functions

Process Intro (Mix Project)

• Process Basics: Creating and managing processes
• Message Passing: Inter-process communication
• Process IDs: Understanding PIDs and self()

🔧 Key Concepts Demonstrated

Recursion Example

Implementations include factorial, n-choose-k, and recursive list processing:

# From recursion.exs
def n_choose_k_helper(n, k) do
  sets_without_x = n_choose_k_helper(n - 1, k)
  sets_with_x = n_choose_k_helper(n - 1, k - 1)
  sets_without_x + sets_with_x
end

Process Management

# From process_intro/lib/process_intro/basics_module.ex
defmodule ProcessIntro.BasicsModule do
  def main() do
    IO.puts("Inside the main() process (pid): #{inspect(self())}")
    :main_done
  end
end

📖 Learning Path

The exercises are designed to progress through:

1. Basic Syntax → simple.exs
2. Functions → funcs.exs, closures.exs
3. Data Structures → lists.exs, tuples.exs, maps.exs
4. Algorithms → recursion.exs, funcsMath.exs
5. Applied Problems → poker_probabilities.exs
6. Concurrency → process_intro/

🛠️ Development Tips

Running in IEx

# Load a script in IEx
iex script_name.exs

# Or compile and run
elixirc script_name.exs

Recompiling in IEx (for Mix projects)

recompile()

Getting Help

h Enum
h Enum.map

📝 Key Elixir Principles

• Immutability: Data cannot be changed after creation
• Pattern Matching: Destructuring and matching values
• Recursion: Preferred over traditional loops
• Higher-Order Functions: Functions that accept/return functions
• Process-Based Concurrency: Lightweight processes for concurrent operations

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📚 Resources

• Official Docs: https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/
• Getting Started: https://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/introduction.html
• Elixir School: https://elixirschool.com/en

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• Author: Ricardo Vega
• Environment: Windows PowerShell with Elixir 1.19.3 / OTP 28
• Course: Elixir Programming Fundamentals