This talk describes our journey in building real-time astrology software in Elixir and Phoenix. I will highlight how we use WebAssembly and LiveView to create custom user experiences, such as on-the-fly SVG astrological charts and how we enable astronomical calculations on the client in just 2-3 milliseconds. Professional-grade astrology tools face the same engineering challenges as many other domains: managing vast amounts of data, modelling complexity without oversimplifying, and building fault-tolerant systems that professionals rely on for their livelihood. By presenting astrology as a unique problem space, I aim to show how the Elixir ecosystem’s power and versatility extends to a wide variety of domains.
OBJECTIVES: Regardless of individual beliefs, astrology is a uniquely thorny and complex problem space that requires some very creative engineering. Elixir and Phoenix have given us fantastic tools to solve some of those problems, and I hope this talk inspires engineers to explore new and unexpected applications of this powerful stack.
AUDIENCE: Elixir engineers working with Phoenix and LiveView.