Erlang has no locks and no keys.

Erlang processes don't share memory, so there is no need to lock the memory while it is being used. Where there are locks, there are keys that can get lost. What happens when you lose your keys? You panic and don't know what to do. That's what happens in software systems when you lose your keys and your locks go wrong.

Distributed software systems with locks and keys always go wrong.

Erlang has no locks and no keys.

Joe Armstrong, Programming Erlang

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