I’m on the same train as You are. I did pass on learning Ruby in favor of Elixir.

IMO: start with JavaScript, learn how to code, later on You can move to React or Vue.
If You succeed, then You can find a job in this area (job market for junior devs in elixir is poor).

Move to Elixir/Phoenix next, but before that learn SQL and how to design a database.

Those are resources that I bought:

• Learn Functional Programming with Elixir
• Programming Elixir 1.6
• Elixir in Action SE
• Programming Phoenix 1.4
• Phoenix in Action
• The Little Elixir & OTP Guidebook
• https://www.udemy.com/course/the-complete-elixir-and-phoenix-bootcamp-and-tutorial/

You can try Elixir track here:

• https://exercism.io/tracks/elixir

Free stuff:

• https://joyofelixir.com/toc.html
• https://elixir-lang.org/getting-started/introduction.html
• https://elixirschool.com/en/
• https://dashbit.co/ebooks/the-little-ecto-cookbook
• https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix/overview.html

Check out:

• https://github.com/h4cc/awesome-elixir

This is my github:

• https://github.com/zervis?tab=repositories

If You want to go for Ruby and ROR you can check this out:

• https://www.theodinproject.com/

Blockquote[quote=“hauleth, post:15, topic:34319”]
Do you have any source of that? Because of the languages I know and I am aware of then it probably wouldn’t make into first 10 of the hardest languages.
[/quote]

I’ve been a long time crawler here but signed up just to participate in this conversation!
I certainly agree with you here.

I think that what makes English hard to learn is the same thing that also makes it easy to get started with it: it’s an extremely flexible language, and you can express the same thing in many different ways. This flexibility, coupled with the extensive materials available for learning the language, and huge quantity if source material make it a very accessible language for one to get immersed in. English is a little bit like Ruby and JavaScript, in that regard. You need to know a lot less to be productive with it it right away. That same flexibility can also make things very confusing, and sometimes the “best solution” isn’t obvious, or isn’t necessarily agreed upon by everyone.
These are only my personal observation, so no sources for that, just opinions.

On the topic of learning Elixir, honestly, knowing Ruby first has actually made Elixir a little harder to learn, only because the syntax looks a little (a lot?) similar between the two, but the language itself behaves somewhat differently to the point that I felt it was easier if I just stopped trying to compare them in my head period. I can’t think of where I heard this, but how I came to Elixir was from hearing somewhere about how Elixir was a better Ruby (along with Crystal, which I’m yet to check out)

Most people, myself included, cannot master both OOP and FP, not at the same time at least. Pick a camp, stick with it for a couple of years. Ruby is a fine language, but it is not a bridge to elixir. True, some prominent figures in the elixir world came from ruby, but they are exceptionally good programmers.

can I start learning elixir as the first programming language?

Absolutely yes. And you never need to ask permission for what you can and cannot learn.

(Aside Ruby and Elixir are just two different languages and not related at all. It’s like asking if you should learn french before english…)

I think it is better to learn Elixir as the first programming language and skip Ruby, especially when you are interested in functional programming.

At the same time, It will be a challenge to get a job as a junior Elixir developer(even middle is not easy).

I would recommend you to start with JavaScript and maybe SQL because:

1. It is much easiest to find the work as a junior developer(your first goal is $10-12 / hour)
2. Soon or later, you will need to write some JS and SQL in any web app you build. Doesn’t matter Elixir it or another language.
3. There are many video courses about these languages that can help you quickly get the idea about programming.

P.S If your goal were not to find a job as a junior developer, I would recommend that you start with the Elixir right away.