Roberto Aloi

Erlang DevX @ WhatsApp

Erlang enthusiast, open-source passionate and speaker, Roberto (he/him) has been working with Erlang technologies since 2007.

Sicilian by origin, formerly at Erlang Solutions and Klarna, Roberto is now based in Stockholm where he works as a software engineer at WhatsApp, focusing on Erlang tooling and developer experience.

Main author of the Erlang LS language server, contributor of the ELP project, Roberto is one of the organizers of the Stockholm BEAM meetups.

Talk:
Fifty Shades of Error

“assert” is a brand new library for Erlang, designed at WhatsApp, which enhances how Erlang errors and assertions are rendered, making it easier for developers to understand what is wrong when an error occurs.

A drop-in replacement for Erlang/OTP stdlib’s assert macros and inspired by Elixir’s ExUnit library and the Exception behaviour, “assert” includes a structural diffing library and an exception blaming mechanism for Erlang.

In this talk you will learn how the library can help your productivity and how to use it. We will also explore the technical implementation behind “assert”.

“assert” is an example of how BEAM languages can influence each other, driving innovation and improvement across the whole ecosystem.

Key Takeaways:

  • Simple visual enhancements can lead to smarter debugging and more efficient development cycles
  • “assert” can be a precious tool in your debugging toolbox
  • BEAM languages can heavily inspire each other

Target Audience:

  • Erlang developers and enthusiasts
  • Anyone who will ever write or debug an Erlang test