Nova: A New Web Framework for Erlang

[taure]

Hi Hacker News community,

I'm excited to share Nova, a new web framework built for Erlang, designed to make web development in Erlang simpler, faster, and more approachable. Nova leverages Erlang's concurrency, reliability, and scalability to create a robust yet lightweight framework for building modern web applications.

Key features:

* Lightweight and modular: Easy to integrate with existing Erlang projects.

* Built for concurrency: Harnesses Erlang's actor model for high-performance web apps.

* Developer-friendly: Simplifies routing, middleware, and template handling.

* Extensible: Supports plugins and custom integrations.

Check it out: GitHub: https://github.com/novaframework/nova Homepage: https://novaframework.org Getting Started Guide: https://dev.to/taure/getting-started-with-nova-1ioo/stats

We’re early in development and would love feedback from the community! If you’re an Erlang enthusiast or curious about building web apps with a language known for its reliability (think WhatsApp or RabbitMQ), give Nova a spin and let us know your thoughts.

What do you think about using Erlang for web development? Any features you’d love to see in a framework like this?

[CollinEMac]

This seems like a tough sell when Phoenix is already so good. I'm struggling to see why I'd use this over that.

[worthless-trash]

Because its not elixir, its erlang. For those of us who dont do elixir, this fits the knowledge I already have.

[prophesi]

Not sure how this hit the front page without linking the actual project.

https://novaframework.org/

[taure]

Thank you. I missed to add a new line where the homepage is..

[SoftTalker]

I will check this out. Are you familiar with the Nitrogen framework? I've used it a bit and quite liked it, but not sure it's really an active project anymore.

https://nitrogenproject.com/

Could you compare/contrast Nova to Nitrogen?

[taure]

We did a fireside chat about it a couple of years ago.

https://youtu.be/PgBzV1-E00k?si=sULVBvLsVPm2S3zl

[lelele]

You could add it to this Awesome Erlang list: https://github.com/drobakowski/awesome-erlang?tab=readme-ov-...

[azaras]

Why do you use Erlang instead of Elixir?

[johnnyjeans]

No rebinding, better fits the grain of the OTP, no AST macros. Last I checked, the debugging experience with elixir was pretty subpar. Erlang is also a fundamentally nicer syntax that I find a great deal more readable. I'm not really sure what the appeal of Elixir as a language is actually supposed to be, outside of people who have spent a lot of time writing Ruby code.

[taure]

We started with Erlang before Elixir was created and we still use it for everything we do.

This is more to have a smooth web framework similar to Phoenix but for Erlang.

You can also use Nova for elixir.

[cmdrk]

Not to pick on you, but there are always posts like this in every Erlang thread. One is not strictly superior to the other, and the BEAM community benefits from the variety IMO.

[colecut]

It seems he wanted to make an alternative to Elixir..

[regularfry]

You've run into the same naming problem GM did with the Vauxhall/Opel Nova: "No Va" literally means some variant of "it doesn't go" in (at least) Italian, Spanish, and French.

[jen20]

While this is a nice story, it's not true [1] [2].

[1]: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanis...

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Chevy_II_/_Nova

[NinoScript]

As a native Spanish speaker, this sounds totally made up. Nova sounds like an astronomy word, like supernova. “No va” to me means something like “it’s not happening” or “the plans have been cancelled”. But it’s pronounced very differently.

[bobbylarrybobby]

And Uranus (when spoken aloud) means “your butt”. Is this really a big concern?