Is there non static function in Elixir?

Question

I am newbie in Elixir, coming from java background. I saw Elixir's function as static methods in java. So I wonder, is there any non-static method / function in Elixir?

Thank you

Answer 1

The accepted answer is correct and I upvoted it. The basic building blocks in OOP are objects. On the BEAM (Erlang VM), the basic building blocks are processes. So, the distinction between static/instance methods just doesn't make sense.

However, when thinking about what instance methods do in an object oriented language, there is something that does a similar thing in Elixir.

Instance methods, when contrasted with class methods, are the ones that work with internal object state. Elixir doesn't have classes or objects, but it does have processes. A GenServer process instance maintains state and passes it into each callback function. So, when you're looking for something that will have state and functions to modify it or return some piece of it, then you want to reach for a GenServer in Elixir.

All the functions will still belong to the Module. They aren't a unique type of function, but they do allow you to manipulate the state of a given instance of the process because the state gets passed in as a parameter and returned within the function's result.

In response to the comment by @ibgib, yes, when compared with an object oriented language like Java or C#, you can think of all modules and functions in Elixir/Erlang as being static. This is comparing apples to oranges, but if it helps when learning to think of them that way, I think that's OK. Just realize that there isn't any such thing as instance methods here.

Answer 2

Nope - all functions belong to a module. Elixir is not an class-oriented language, so the concept of "instance methods vs. class methods" is not applicable.

Aside from typical named functions which belong to a module, there are anonymous functions, similar to lambdas in Java.