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Who This Tutorial Is For

This guide is for people who already know how to code. If you’re familiar with variables, functions, types, and control flow, you’re in the right spot.

We won’t explain the basics of programming. Instead, we’ll focus on how things work in Gleam and on the BEAM. If you’re coming from Python, JavaScript, Go, C++, or similar, you’ll be fine - even if functional programming is new to you.

You don’t need to know FP going in. This is aimed at curious developers who want a solid intro to a functional language that runs on the BEAM. It follows the style of guides like Learn You a Haskell, which assume programming experience but not a background in FP.

Think of this as a fast-moving tour from one developer to another. Like the Go Tour or the Rust Book, it covers practical syntax and patterns instead of explaining what a loop is.