Thanks for your clarification. I think 'just syntax' is a bit dismissive of the importance that well-designed syntax has on being able to reason clearly in a certain way. Elixir's "just syntax" has made it so easy for me to understand FP concepts like pattern matching and higher order functions. I've struggled with these concepts before while trying to learn Haskell, Erlang and many other FP languages. Does that make me a bad programmer? The parent commenter would certainly think so.
I totally take your point that everything written in Elixir could be written in Erlang. That much is a fact. However, my point in saying they serve different uses is saying that better syntax in itself isn't nothing. If a language enables many people to grasp actor-based concurrency in an easy to understand fashion, can we reduce that to "just syntax"? I guess my point is that introducing syntactic clarity is in itself a massive feature that shouldn't be dismissed.
I totally take your point that everything written in Elixir could be written in Erlang. That much is a fact. However, my point in saying they serve different uses is saying that better syntax in itself isn't nothing. If a language enables many people to grasp actor-based concurrency in an easy to understand fashion, can we reduce that to "just syntax"? I guess my point is that introducing syntactic clarity is in itself a massive feature that shouldn't be dismissed.
I hope that further explains my intent!