In this talk, using the Erlang hacker's semi-official motto "Let it Crash!" as a lens, I'll speak to how radical simplicity of implementation, straight-forward runtime characteristics and discoverability of the running system lead to computer systems which have great success in networked, always-on deployments.

I will argue that while Erlang natively implements many features which aid the construction of such systems--functional programming language semantics, lack of global mutable state, first-class networking, for instance--these characteristics can be replicated in any computer system, as a part of initial design of new systems or the gradual evolution of an existing project. I'll discuss common design patterns and anti-patterns, using my own work at AdRoll and project experience reports from a variety of fields--both successes and failures--to advance my argument.

This will be a very practical talk and will be accessible to engineers of all backgrounds.