Common pitfalls in Elixir include improper error handling, neglecting process supervision, and misunderstanding the immutability of data. Ensure proper validation of inputs and structure your code to leverage Elixir’s strengths.

While Elixir is a powerful language with many advantages, there are common pitfalls that developers should be aware of to avoid issues in their applications. One significant pitfall is improper error handling. Elixir encourages the use of try, catch, and rescue, along with supervision trees to manage process failures. Neglecting to implement robust error handling can lead to unexpected crashes and unstable applications. Ensure that you have adequate error handling in place to catch and manage exceptions gracefully. Another common mistake is underestimating the importance of process supervision. Elixir's concurrency model relies on processes to manage state and handle tasks, and without proper supervision, a crash in one process can bring down your application. Always structure your application using supervision trees to monitor and restart processes as needed. Additionally, many developers new to Elixir may struggle with the concept of immutability. In Elixir, data is immutable, meaning once a data structure is created, it cannot be changed. This can lead to confusion when trying to update values. To address this, always think in terms of creating new data structures rather than modifying existing ones. Finally, ensure that you validate inputs thoroughly before processing them, as Elixir's pattern matching can lead to runtime errors if unexpected values are encountered. By being aware of these common pitfalls and taking proactive measures, you can build more reliable and maintainable Elixir applications.