archiver_tasks.ex

defmodule Archiver do
  # function that handles list of items to archive
  def archive([_h | _t] =  items) do
    Enum.map(items, fn(item) ->  Task.async(&archive_thing(&1)) end) # run a short lived task for each item
    |> Enum.map(&Task.await/1) # collect a result for each item and return a list of results
  end

  # function to handle each individual itemd
  defp archive_thing(_t) do
    :timer.sleep(:rand.uniform(10000))
  end
end