We use it in production and are really happy with it.
For me, one of the biggest value points of Ash lies in removing the boilerplate without locking you in.
The devs of Ash cleverly use Elixir itself and other big names of the Elixir eco system.
By doing that, they have created a framework that helps you moving more quickly as you don't have to write the same code over and over again (i.e. remove boilerplate) while still giving you the flexibility to escape if something out of the box doesn't fit right away (that's because of how Elixir works and how they just re-use the other big names, e.g. Ecto, Absinthe,...).
I've tried to write about all of this here if you are interested in reading more:
No, the Lightning Network is a free and open payment network on top of the Bitcoin Network.
It's a so called "layer 2" network (Bitcoin network being the layer 1).
Everyone can run a Lightning Network Node on e.g. a RaspberryPi.
One opens "Channels" to other Nodes. Multiple nodes and channels build a network and can transfer Bitcoin/Satoshis for relatively little costs from A to B.
Network nodes can charge a fee for routing payments (or data more generally speaking).
There are different implementations of a Lightning Network node. LND is probably the most used one today.
But there is also C-Lightning.
Not everyone needs to open a Channel. There are custodial solutions already. You just need some Satoshis and are good to go.
Likewise, not everyone needs to create their own Visa or MasterCard.
They may have their MySQL/PostgreSQL implementation where they scale and allow for many TX/s. But they don't settle all these transactions in real time. That's also done on a different, slower layer.
You probably should look at different numbers than just the dollar price.
Number of nodes is rising,
number of wallets is rising, number of hash-power is rising.
Also, please look into the "Lightning Network". It's the second layer on top of Bitcoin and that's where the whole ecosystem scales (in terms of numbers of transactions per second). Cheap, scalable and fast transactions.
There's also a Podcast, Newsletter and the creator is active on Twitter and responds to questions.
In short:
- packed with first-hand experience
- easy to follow
- instantly useful
- the best advice for making something with actually returns money: find and solve a "critical" problem. Learn how to look & find them.
Start small while listening to it.
Also, I've found "This is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn To See" by Seth Godin to be really helpful. It changed my mind quite a bit around the topic of marketing (Ads != Marketing; love the concept of "find the Minimum Viable Audience").
I chose to use the exact translation of the original article's title as the title of the HN thread since "Süddeutsche Zeitung" usually is quite a reliable and transparent resource.
"Ego is the Enemy: The Fight to Master Our Greatest Opponent", by Ryan Holiday.
I really enjoyed this one and I will read it again. IMHO, it helped me understand people better and especially myself. It changed a lot of my own perspectives and opened my eyes in at least 2 areas of my own life.
Behaviour, intentions, humility, self-esteem, focus on right things and don't let other opinions (about you or your work) mess with your mind.
I read this last year. Since then, many different daily situations reminded me in some way to topics discussed in the book. I will also gift this book to others (if I feel someone is open for these kind of topics).
Maybe you could view in a different way?
There are people who want to promote services which actually help society and humanity using tools you helped to create. Even if it is just one person or company! :)
IMHO, a mission helps focusing on things which really matter to get where you want to be in a couple of weeks, months, years,... And by that, I do not mean that one gets there faster by having a mission, but rather gets there at all.
Yes, things happen if you wait. But in my experience, not the things you want. Or, if things you want happen just by waiting, it was by coincidence, mostly?
I think living by a set of positive principles is really important! I like to complement my principles with a mission, while still staying humble and open minded (i.e. having a clear focus but not blocking new and different insights, thoughts, ideas..). I hope that makes sense.
Any chance you also read "Principles" by Ray Dalio?
For me, one of the biggest value points of Ash lies in removing the boilerplate without locking you in.
The devs of Ash cleverly use Elixir itself and other big names of the Elixir eco system. By doing that, they have created a framework that helps you moving more quickly as you don't have to write the same code over and over again (i.e. remove boilerplate) while still giving you the flexibility to escape if something out of the box doesn't fit right away (that's because of how Elixir works and how they just re-use the other big names, e.g. Ecto, Absinthe,...).
I've tried to write about all of this here if you are interested in reading more:
https://www.lukasender.at/ash-the-hidden-champion-of-low-cod...
In the end, it's hard to only write and read about this. You can only "feel" how things change when you actually work with it.
The learning curve is a little step at first, though (in my opinion). But the docs got a lot better over time.
All in all, I'm still happy with how things turned out and would use it again for future projects.