Languages
Erlang
Concurrent Language
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Erlang is a general-purpose, concurrent, functional programming language designed by Joe Armstrong, Robert Virding and Mike Williams at Ericsson in 1986 for building fault-tolerant, distributed telecommunications systems. It was released as free and open-source software in December 1998.
Facts
First Released ParadigmMulti-paradigm: concurrent, functional. 1 SignificanceJoe Armstrong summarized the design goal as software that is write once, run forever. Erlang's fault-tolerant, distributed model later powered systems including WhatsApp, well beyond its original telecommunications-switch use. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
In Field
Influenced By
Invented By
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Business Atlas: Ericsson, originated there.
Sources
Open Questions (1 open question)
Is Erlang named for mathematician Agner Krarup Erlang or as a syllabic abbreviation of Ericsson Language?
Sources describe the name as presumed by telephony-switch engineers to honor Danish mathematician Agner Krarup Erlang, and also as a syllabic abbreviation of Ericsson Language, the company where the language was created; no single authoritative account settles which motivation, if not both, actually drove the choice.
What would resolve this A primary statement from Joe Armstrong, Robert Virding or Mike Williams, or an Ericsson internal record from the 1980s, definitively naming the intended derivation of the name.
Computing historyWikipedia: Erlang (programming language)
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