Evolving Erlang/OTP Feature by Feature

With the release of OTP25, support for selectable features in the language and the runtime will be added. This means that extensions and changes to the language and/or runtime system can be used selectively. One benefit is the possibility to try out features without affecting existing code, even for backwards-incompatible changes. This talk will be a deep dive into the ideas and implementation behind the support for features. As an extended example, we will show how this support is used to add Value-Based Error Handling (EEP49) as the first experimental feature.

OBJECTIVES

Stake out a path forward, evolving Erlang/OTP without forcing developers to rewrite legacy code.

AUDIENCE

• Developers using Erlang/OTP, both those wanting new features and those who don't.

• Managers of the same