Wrapping Up

We’ve gotten off to a strong start. You’ve created a first project. Though all of the concepts might still be a bit hazy, you now have a high-level understanding of how Phoenix projects hang together. The core concepts are these:

• We installed Phoenix, which is built using Erlang and OTP for the service layer, Elixir for the language, and Node.js for packaging static assets.

• We used the Elixir build tool mix to create a new project and start our server.

• Web applications in Phoenix are pipelines of plugs.

• The basic flow of traditional applications is endpoint, router, pipeline, controller.

• Routers distribute requests.

• Controllers call services and set up intermediate data for views.

In the next chapter, we’re going to build a more hardy controller. You’ll see how data flows through Phoenix, from the controller all the way into templates. You’ll learn about concepts like layouts along the way. Let’s get cracking!