🔗 It's a match!

If you have been writing Elixir long enough, you may have entered the magical world of Erlang Term Storage (ETS). ETS is one of the many options Elixirists and Erlangers have for storing and retrieving data. When performance is critical and a remote database connection comes at too high a cost, ETS is often an excellent choice.

ETS particularly shines in scenarios where incoming data must be stored as efficiently as possible. However, peculiarities around its interface present challenges to effectively wielding the tool. The goal of this article is to give you confidence in knowing when to reach for ETS and how to use it to solve real problems.

Before we start slinging ETS tables willy nilly, let’s consider some of our options.