F# vs Kotlin

Overview

Stacks779

Followers556

Votes399

GitHub Stars2.2K

Forks316

Kotlin

Stacks17.7K

Followers11.9K

Votes650

GitHub Stars51.5K

Forks6.1K

F# vs Kotlin: What are the differences?

Introduction

F# and Kotlin are two popular programming languages used for different purposes. While F# is primarily used for functional programming, Kotlin is used for developing Android applications. Despite their differences, both languages have their own unique features and advantages. In this article, we will explore the key differences between F# and Kotlin.

Syntax: F# uses a functional-first syntax that is concise and expressive. It is designed to support functional programming paradigms, making it suitable for tasks involving heavy data manipulation and mathematical computations. On the other hand, Kotlin adopts a pragmatic approach with a Java-like syntax that is easy to read and write. It supports both object-oriented and functional programming styles, providing developers with a lot of flexibility.
Platform: F# is primarily used in the Microsoft ecosystem and runs on the .NET platform. It provides seamless integration with other .NET languages and frameworks, making it a good choice for developing desktop applications, web services, and other software solutions within the Microsoft ecosystem. Kotlin, on the other hand, is designed for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and is the official language for Android app development. It allows developers to write fully interoperable code with existing Java libraries and Android APIs.
Language Features: F# has a strong focus on immutability and functional programming concepts, such as pattern matching, higher-order functions, and type inference. It provides powerful features like units of measure, discriminated unions, and computation expressions, which enable developers to write concise and expressive code. Kotlin, on the other hand, provides a rich set of language features, including null safety, extension functions, data classes, and coroutines. These features enhance productivity and help developers write safer and more efficient code.
Tooling and IDE Support: F# has excellent tooling support within the Visual Studio IDE and other .NET development tools. It provides features like code completion, refactoring, and debugging, which help developers write and maintain code more efficiently. Kotlin, on the other hand, has official support from JetBrains, the makers of IntelliJ IDEA, which provides excellent tooling and IDE support. Kotlin also has plugins for popular IDEs like Android Studio and Eclipse, making it easier for developers to write Kotlin code.
Community and Ecosystem: F# has a small but dedicated community of developers who are passionate about functional programming and the .NET platform. It has a growing ecosystem of libraries and frameworks that are actively maintained by the community. Kotlin, on the other hand, has gained a lot of popularity in recent years, especially in the Android development community. It has a large and active community, with a rich ecosystem of libraries and frameworks that are widely used by Kotlin developers.
Performance: F# provides good performance for computational tasks due to its efficient support for immutable data and functional programming concepts. It generates optimized code that can take advantage of multi-core processors and other hardware features. Kotlin, on the other hand, is designed to be compatible with the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and provides good performance on the JVM platform. It benefits from the optimizations performed by the JVM and can leverage existing Java libraries and frameworks for improved performance.

In summary, F# and Kotlin are two different programming languages with their own unique features and advantages. F# is primarily used for functional programming on the .NET platform, while Kotlin is used for Android app development. F# has a concise and expressive syntax with a strong focus on immutability and functional programming concepts. Kotlin has a pragmatic syntax with support for both object-oriented and functional programming styles. Both languages have good tooling support, active communities, and rich ecosystems. The choice between F# and Kotlin depends on the specific requirements of the project and the target platform.

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Nick

Building cool things on the internet 🛠️ at Stream

Sep 5, 2019

Review

I work at Stream and I'm immensely proud of what our team is working on here at the company. Most recently, we announced our Android SDK accompanied by an extensive tutorial for Java and Kotlin. The tutorial covers just about everything you need to know when it comes to using our Android SDK for Stream Chat. The Android SDK touches many features offered by Stream Chat – more specifically, typing status, read state, file uploads, threads, reactions, editing messages, and commands. Head over to https://getstream.io/tutorials/android-chat/ and give it a whirl!

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Omar

Feb 23, 2021

Needs adviceon

Ruby

JavaScript

Rust

I was thinking about adding a new technology to my current stack (Ruby and JavaScript). But, I want a compiled language, mainly for speed and scalability reasons compared to interpreted languages. I have tried each one (Rust, Java, and Kotlin). I loved them, and I don't know which one can offer me more opportunities for the future (I'm in my first year of software engineering at university).

Which language should I choose?

443k views443k

Comments

Zuriel

Jun 7, 2020

Needs advice

Can anyone help me decide what's best for app development or even android Oreo development? I'm in a state dilemma at the moment. I want to do Android programming, not necessarily web development. I have heard a lot of people recommend one of these, and it seems that both the tools can do the job. Which language would you choose?

291k views291k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

F#	Kotlin
F# is a mature, open source, cross-platform, functional-first programming language. It empowers users and organizations to tackle complex computing problems with simple, maintainable and robust code.	Kotlin is a statically typed programming language for the JVM, Android and the browser, 100% interoperable with Java
Statistics
GitHub Stars 2.2K	GitHub Stars 51.5K
GitHub Forks 316	GitHub Forks 6.1K
Stacks 779	Stacks 17.7K
Followers 556	Followers 11.9K
Votes 399	Votes 650
Pros & Cons
Pros 53 Pattern-matching 42 Makes programming fun again 38 Type providers 32 Delightful 30 Frictionless Cons 3 Microsoft tend to ignore F# preferring to hype C# 2 Interop between C# can sometimes be difficult 1 Type Providers can be unstable in larger solutions 1 Hype	Pros 73 Interoperable with Java 55 Functional Programming support 51 Null Safety 46 Official Android support 44 Backed by JetBrains Cons 7 Java interop makes users write Java in Kotlin 4 Frequent use of {} keys 2 Nonullpointer Exception 2 Hard to make teams adopt the Kotlin style 1 No boiler plate code

What are some alternatives to F#, Kotlin?

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 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

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

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 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

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 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# (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 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.

Elixir

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.

Related Comparisons

F# vs Kotlin: What are the differences?

Introduction

Syntax: F# uses a functional-first syntax that is concise and expressive. It is designed to support functional programming paradigms, making it suitable for tasks involving heavy data manipulation and mathematical computations. On the other hand, Kotlin adopts a pragmatic approach with a Java-like syntax that is easy to read and write. It supports both object-oriented and functional programming styles, providing developers with a lot of flexibility.
Platform: F# is primarily used in the Microsoft ecosystem and runs on the .NET platform. It provides seamless integration with other .NET languages and frameworks, making it a good choice for developing desktop applications, web services, and other software solutions within the Microsoft ecosystem. Kotlin, on the other hand, is designed for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and is the official language for Android app development. It allows developers to write fully interoperable code with existing Java libraries and Android APIs.
Language Features: F# has a strong focus on immutability and functional programming concepts, such as pattern matching, higher-order functions, and type inference. It provides powerful features like units of measure, discriminated unions, and computation expressions, which enable developers to write concise and expressive code. Kotlin, on the other hand, provides a rich set of language features, including null safety, extension functions, data classes, and coroutines. These features enhance productivity and help developers write safer and more efficient code.
Tooling and IDE Support: F# has excellent tooling support within the Visual Studio IDE and other .NET development tools. It provides features like code completion, refactoring, and debugging, which help developers write and maintain code more efficiently. Kotlin, on the other hand, has official support from JetBrains, the makers of IntelliJ IDEA, which provides excellent tooling and IDE support. Kotlin also has plugins for popular IDEs like Android Studio and Eclipse, making it easier for developers to write Kotlin code.
Community and Ecosystem: F# has a small but dedicated community of developers who are passionate about functional programming and the .NET platform. It has a growing ecosystem of libraries and frameworks that are actively maintained by the community. Kotlin, on the other hand, has gained a lot of popularity in recent years, especially in the Android development community. It has a large and active community, with a rich ecosystem of libraries and frameworks that are widely used by Kotlin developers.
Performance: F# provides good performance for computational tasks due to its efficient support for immutable data and functional programming concepts. It generates optimized code that can take advantage of multi-core processors and other hardware features. Kotlin, on the other hand, is designed to be compatible with the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and provides good performance on the JVM platform. It benefits from the optimizations performed by the JVM and can leverage existing Java libraries and frameworks for improved performance.

F# vs Kotlin

Overview

F# vs Kotlin: What are the differences?