Let it crash! How Erlang and BEAM build bullet proof software
From Coding Chats by John Crickett
April 23, 2026 · 37 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the BEAM virtual machine and its unique features that contribute to building fault-tolerant software.
Coding Chats episode 74 - Erik Stenman talks to John Crickett about the BEAM virtual machine — the runtime behind Erlang, Elixir, and Gleam. Built by Ericsson in the 1980s for telephone switches, it was designed for fault tolerance and concurrency from day one, yet never achieved mainstream popularity despite being technically superior to many alternatives. The discussion covers what makes BEAM unique: lightweight isolated processes, a "let it crash" fault philosophy, and powerful built-in introspection. Erik also shares practical lessons from production use and explains why newer languages like Elixir and Gleam are finally bringing BEAM the attention it deserves. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Beam and Erlang 02:45 The Unique Features of Erlang and Beam 05:17 Concurrency and Fault Tolerance in Beam 07:34 Applications and Use Cases of Erlang 10:00 Error Handling and Process Supervision 12:49 Performance Considerations in Beam 15:09 Learning and Adopting Erlang and Elixir 17:28 The Future of Erlang, Elixir, and Gleam 37:04 Exploring Related Content Erik's Links: https://happihacking.com/ https://happihacking.com/blog/ https://github.com/happi/theBeamBook…
People in this episode
Host: John Crickett
Guest: Erik Stenman
Topics covered
- Erlang
- BEAM
- fault tolerance
- concurrency
- software development
- programming languages
Keywords
- BEAM
- Erlang
- Elixir
- Gleam
- fault tolerance
- concurrency
- software architecture
- programming
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Ericsson
Products: Erlang, Elixir, Gleam
Books & works: theBeamBook
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