# Programming Erlang by Joe Armstrong

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Programming Erlang by Joe Armstrong and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as one of the finest technical books, and as a way to become a better programmer in other languages such as Ruby.

## Why people recommend it

- Improves programming in other languages (1 comments): "Reading the Erlang ProgProgrammers book by Joe Armstrong made me a better Ruby programmer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48961643))
- Ranked among finest technical books (1 comments): "This is explained in complementary ways in two of the finest technical books ever written" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46097516))
- Still ranks ahead of similar books (1 comments): ""Programming Erlang", and "Programming Clojure" and still come ahead" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48273902))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Crafting Interpreters by Robert Nystrom](https://hackerapproved.com/p/crafting-interpreters.md): 60 recommend
- [Clean Code by Robert C. Martin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clean-code.md): 31 recommend
- [The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt and Thomas](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pragmatic-programmer.md): 28 recommend
- [How to Design Programs by Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-to-design-programs.md): 18 recommend
- [Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastering-emacs.md): 17 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/193435600X?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781934356005) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Programming Erlang by Joe Armstrong", https://hackerapproved.com/p/programming-erlang/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).