argparse: complex CLI made simple

Most programing languages have a way to interact via command line arguments. So does Erlang. Tricky part is conversion between Unix shell conventions and Erlang. Some languages have libraries to do the job. Python has docopt, click, and argparse, all serving the purpose, and allowing complicated syntax. Erlang deserves to have some too. This talk introduces argparse for Erlang.

OBJECTIVES

Demonstrate design of a complex CLI in Erlang. Show practical examples. Share experience working with a huge release providing several hundred subcommands.

AUDIENCE

Software developers looking for a convenient way to provide command line utility interface.

ARTICLES: 1

How to serve 1.5 billion active users at the same time - scaling Erlang cluster to 10,000 nodes

Article by Maxim Fedorov

A growing user population beyond 1.7B, whilst simultaneously adding new capabilities, does not leave much chance to keep the server footprint as small as it used to be.

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