What is a .BEAM file?
A .BEAM file is a type of computer file that is made by turning Erlang programming language code into a form that a computer can run directly. Erlang is a special kind of computer language that is really good for making programs that need to handle many tasks at once, like websites where lots of people are shopping at the same time, chat applications, or phone systems.
When someone writes a program in Erlang, they save their work in files that end with .ERL. But, in order for a computer to actually run this program, the .ERL file needs to be transformed into a .BEAM file. This transformation is done by a tool called the Erlang compiler, which reads the .ERL file and turns it into a .BEAM file. The .BEAM file is in a special computer language called bytecode, which the Erlang Virtual Machine (VM) can understand and execute.
To open and run a .BEAM file, you need to use the Erlang VM or a special project called Erjang. Erjang is interesting because it allows .BEAM files to run on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which is the same system that runs Java programs. Erjang does this by converting .BEAM files into .CLASS files, which are the kind of files Java programs are turned into for the JVM to run. This is a bit like translating a book from one language to another so more people can read it.
In summary, if you have a .BEAM file, you can open it using the Erlang VM or the Erjang project if you want it to run in a Java environment. This makes .BEAM files quite versatile, similar to how Java .CLASS files work but for Erlang programs.
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