BEAM (Erlang virtual machine)

BEAM is the virtual machine at the core of the Erlang Open Telecom Platform (OTP). BEAM is part of the Erlang Run-Time System (ERTS), which compiles Erlang source code into bytecode, which is then executed on the BEAM. BEAM bytecode files have the .beam file extension. BEAM was written in the C language. Originally BEAM was short for Bogdan's Erlang Abstract Machine, named after Bogumil "Bogdan" Hausman, who wrote the original version, but the name may also be referred to as Björn's Erlang Abstract Machine, after Björn Gustavsson, who wrote and maintains the current version. Both developers worked on the system while at Ericsson. The predecessor of the BEAM was JAM (Joe's Abstract Machine), which was the first virtual machine for the Erlang language and was written by Joe Armstrong and Mike Williams in the C language as well.