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  5. Elixir vs Haskell

Elixir vs Haskell

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Haskell
Haskell
Stacks1.4K
Followers1.2K
Votes527
Elixir
Elixir
Stacks3.5K
Followers3.3K
Votes1.3K
GitHub Stars26.0K
Forks3.5K

Elixir vs Haskell: What are the differences?

Introduction: Elixir and Haskell are both functional programming languages that have gained popularity among developers. While they have some similarities, they also have key differences that set them apart from each other. In this article, we will explore six important differences between Elixir and Haskell.

  1. Type Systems: Elixir uses a dynamic typing system, meaning that types are checked at runtime. This allows for more flexibility and easier prototyping, but it can also result in runtime errors if types are mismatched. Haskell, on the other hand, uses a static typing system, where types are checked at compile-time. This provides stronger type safety, catching potential errors before runtime.

  2. Concurrency and Parallelism: Concurrency and parallelism are handled differently in Elixir and Haskell. Elixir has built-in support for lightweight processes called "actors" through its concurrent programming model called the "Erlang Actor Model." This makes it easy to write highly concurrent and fault-tolerant applications. Haskell, on the other hand, uses software transactional memory (STM) and lazy evaluation to handle parallelism. This allows for easy composition of parallel programs and efficient utilization of multicore processors.

  3. Syntax: Elixir has a Ruby-inspired syntax that aims for readability and developer happiness. It uses a more familiar syntax with an emphasis on human-friendly code. On the other hand, Haskell has a more mathematically-focused syntax that can be seen as more expressive but also more challenging for newcomers. Haskell's syntax is based on lambda calculus, which gives it a unique flavor.

  4. Pattern Matching: Pattern matching is a powerful feature in both Elixir and Haskell, but they differ in their approach. In Elixir, pattern matching is used extensively to destructure data structures and match multiple cases. It allows for concise and elegant code. Haskell also supports pattern matching, but it is more static and type-driven. It ensures exhaustiveness and correctness by requiring all cases to be covered.

  5. Tooling and Libraries: Both Elixir and Haskell have vibrant ecosystems with a wide range of libraries and tools. However, Elixir's ecosystem is more focused on building web applications and has better tooling for web development. It has frameworks like Phoenix that make it easy to build scalable and fault-tolerant web applications. Haskell, on the other hand, has a strong focus on functional programming and provides libraries for various domains like parsing, concurrency, and theorem proving.

  6. Interoperability: Elixir and Haskell have different levels of interoperability with other languages. Elixir runs on the Erlang virtual machine (BEAM), which allows for seamless interoperability with other languages that run on the BEAM, such as Erlang and LFE (Lisp Flavored Erlang). Haskell, on the other hand, can interface with other languages through tools like FFI (Foreign Function Interface), which enables interoperability with C and other languages.

In summary, Elixir and Haskell differ in their type systems, concurrency models, syntax, pattern matching approaches, tooling, and interoperability. Elixir provides a more dynamic and flexible programming experience with a focus on web development, while Haskell offers strong static typing and a mathematical approach to programming with a focus on functional purity and parallelism.

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Advice on Haskell, Elixir

Timm
Timm

VP Of Engineering at Flexperto GmbH

Nov 10, 2020

Decided

We have a lot of experience in JavaScript, writing our services in NodeJS allows developers to transition to the back end without any friction, without having to learn a new language. There is also the option to write services in TypeScript, which adds an expressive type layer. The semi-shared ecosystem between front and back end is nice as well, though specifically NodeJS libraries sometimes suffer in quality, compared to other major languages.

As for why we didn't pick the other languages, most of it comes down to "personal preference" and historically grown code bases, but let's do some post-hoc deduction:

Go is a practical choice, reasonably easy to learn, but until we find performance issues with our NodeJS stack, there is simply no reason to switch. The benefits of using NodeJS so far outweigh those of picking Go. This might change in the future.

PHP is a language we're still using in big parts of our system, and are still sometimes writing new code in. Modern PHP has fixed some of its issues, and probably has the fastest development cycle time, but it suffers around modelling complex asynchronous tasks, and (on a personal note) lack of support for writing in a functional style.

We don't use Python, Elixir or Ruby, mostly because of personal preference and for historic reasons.

Rust, though I personally love and use it in my projects, would require us to specifically hire for that, as the learning curve is quite steep. Its web ecosystem is OK by now (see https://www.arewewebyet.org/), but in my opinion, it is still no where near that of the other web languages. In other words, we are not willing to pay the price for playing this innovation card.

Haskell, as with Rust, I personally adore, but is simply too esoteric for us. There are problem domains where it shines, ours is not one of them.

682k views682k
Comments
Jakes
Jakes

Mar 21, 2021

Decided

#rust @{#elixir}|topic:null| So am creating a messenger with voice call capabilities app which the user signs up using phone number and so at first i wanted to use Actix so i learned Rust so i thought to myself because well its first i felt its a bit immature to use actix web even though some companies are using Rust but we cant really say the full potential of Rust in a full scale app for example in Discord both Elixir and Rust are used meaning there is equal need for them but for Elixir so many companies use it from Whatsapp, Wechat, etc and this means something for Rust is not ready to go full scale we cant assume all this possibilities when it come Rust. So i decided to go the Erlang way after alot of Thinking so Do you think i made the right decision?Am 19 year programmer so i assume am not experienced as you so your answer or comment would really valuable to me

284k views284k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Haskell
Haskell
Elixir
Elixir

It is a general purpose language that can be used in any domain and use case, it is ideally suited for proprietary business logic and data analysis, fast prototyping and enhancing existing software environments with correct code, performance and scalability.

Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain.

Statically typed; Purely functional; Type inference; Concurrent
-
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
26.0K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
3.5K
Stacks
1.4K
Stacks
3.5K
Followers
1.2K
Followers
3.3K
Votes
527
Votes
1.3K
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 90
    Purely-functional programming
  • 66
    Statically typed
  • 59
    Type-safe
  • 39
    Open source
  • 38
    Great community
Cons
  • 9
    Too much distraction in language extensions
  • 8
    Error messages can be very confusing
  • 5
    Libraries have poor documentation
  • 3
    No best practices
  • 3
    No good ABI
Pros
  • 174
    Concurrency
  • 163
    Functional
  • 133
    Erlang vm
  • 113
    Great documentation
  • 105
    Great tooling
Cons
  • 11
    Fewer jobs for Elixir experts
  • 7
    Smaller userbase than other mainstream languages
  • 5
    Elixir's dot notation less readable ("object": 1st arg)
  • 4
    Dynamic typing
  • 2
    Difficult to understand

What are some alternatives to Haskell, Elixir?

JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

Python

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Ruby

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Java

Java

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

Golang

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

HTML5

HTML5

HTML5 is a core technology markup language of the Internet used for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web. As of October 2014 this is the final and complete fifth revision of the HTML standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The previous version, HTML 4, was standardised in 1997.

C#

C#

C# (pronounced "See Sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and JavaScript programmers.

Scala

Scala

Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.

Swift

Swift

Writing code is interactive and fun, the syntax is concise yet expressive, and apps run lightning-fast. Swift is ready for your next iOS and OS X project — or for addition into your current app — because Swift code works side-by-side with Objective-C.

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