Outside the Beam (Ports and C-Nodes)

Sometimes you need to use code from outside of Elixir and Erlang, whether it be for some optimization or to simply save yourself the time of re-implementing a program in another language. Chris and Geoff will discuss some of the options from basic ports to more involved C-Nodes, with some talk about NIFs and linked in drivers.

Talk 1: Wrap it up in a Port!
The easiest and typically most sensible approach to interfacing with other programs outside of Erlang, Ports offer a lot of flexibility and fault tolerance at the expense of performance. Geoff will give a quick primer on how to use ports.

Talk 2: C Programs in Erlang Disguises
For hard realtime requirements and performance optimizations, C-Nodes, NIFs and Linked in Drivers are the main options for getting that extra boost, but at the cost of safety. Chris will provide a demonstration of a C-Node, with discussion on the other options.