Understanding Elixir Structs

Elixir structs are a powerful feature for defining structured data, providing a way to create custom data types that are more expressive and maintainable than plain maps. They offer a clear schema for your data, making it easier to understand and work with.

Key Features of Elixir Structs

• Definition: Structs are defined using the defstruct macro, typically within a module. This macro specifies the fields that the struct will contain. For example: defstruct [:field1, :field2].
• Map Behavior: Elixir structs are built on top of maps. This means they inherit all the capabilities of maps, including dynamic key-value storage. However, structs enforce a predefined set of keys.
• Pattern Matching: A significant advantage of structs is their excellent support for pattern matching. You can easily destructure structs and match against their fields, making it simple to extract data and control program flow based on data structure.
• @derive Macro: The @derive macro allows you to automatically implement certain behaviours for your structs, such as Inspect for better debugging output, Enumerable for iterating over struct fields, and Protocols for custom protocol implementations.

Benefits of Using Structs

By using structs, you can improve the readability and robustness of your Elixir code. They help prevent common errors associated with typos in map keys and provide a clear contract for the data your functions expect and return. This leads to more maintainable and less error-prone applications.

Further Reading

• Elixir Documentation on Structs
• Elixir Getting Started: Structs