Programming Erlang
Programming Erlang by Joe Armstrongby Joe Armstrong
Shares rank 38 of 115 programming books by recommenders
Recommended as one of the finest technical books, and as a way to become a better programmer in other languages such as Ruby.
Recommended as one of the finest technical books, and as a way to become a better programmer in other languages such as Ruby.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Improves programming in other languages
“Reading the Erlang ProgProgrammers book by Joe Armstrong made me a better Ruby programmer”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Elixir-lang.org has a new design” Ranked among finest technical books
“This is explained in complementary ways in two of the finest technical books ever written”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “System 7 natively boots on the Mac mini G4” Still ranks ahead of similar books
“"Programming Erlang", and "Programming Clojure" and still come ahead”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “Nobody cracks open a programming book anymore”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert Nystrom | 60 | 4 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Clean Codeby Robert C. Martin | 31 | 87 | 26% | 9 | — | — |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Hunt and Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Programming Erlangby Joe ArmstrongThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
3 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Reading the Erlang ProgProgrammers book by Joe Armstrong made me a better Ruby programmer”
“"Programming Erlang", and "Programming Clojure" and still come ahead”
“This is explained in complementary ways in two of the finest technical books ever written”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.