5 Little Potions | 5 Little Potions

5 Little Potions, expanded edition

Learn Elixir and Phoenix LiveView by building playable games

Learn functional programming the practical way: by shipping small, focused Elixir projects that grow from a terminal warm-up into five substantial game builds.

Get the Expanded Edition ($35)
5 Little Potions book cover Flappy Phoenix game screenshot

Turn abstract concepts into working software

Functional programming can feel abstract. Immutability, pattern matching, processes, and message passing make sense in theory, but they click faster when you use them to build something you can play. 5 Little Potions turns those ideas into practical Elixir projects with visible feedback at every step.

What's New in the Expanded Edition?

  • Updated chapters for modern Elixir, Phoenix, and LiveView workflows.
  • Expanded explanations around architecture, state, processes, and testing.
  • A new multiplayer Garden Keeper project that brings PubSub and Presence into play.

The 5 Potions You Will Build

After an introductory Guessing Game, the book moves through five fuller projects that layer on Mix, LiveView, process state, and multiplayer Phoenix patterns.

Grid Games preview

Grid Games

Mix, structs, pattern matching

Model board state and player turns while building classic grid-based games.

Flappy Phoenix preview

Flappy Phoenix

LiveView state and events

Build a browser game that responds to player input and updates in real time.

Text Adventure preview

Text Adventure

Graphs and command parsing

Create a larger world with rooms, edges, commands, and deeper state.

Space Merchant preview

Space Merchant

GenServers and process state

Use a server process to run a text-based simulation with turns, markets, and events.

Garden Keeper preview

Garden Keeper

PubSub, Presence, multiplayer LiveView

Finish with a shared real-time browser game where connected players affect one world.

Start building in Elixir today

100% satisfaction guarantee. If you don't love the book, reply to your Gumroad receipt within 14 days for a full refund.

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