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Clojure vs Elm: What are the differences?
- Syntax Differences: Clojure uses Lisp syntax, which is known for its use of parentheses and prefix notation, while Elm uses a more familiar syntax resembling ML languages with a focus on simplicity and readability.
- Immutable Data Structures: Clojure favors persistent and immutable data structures, while Elm enforces immutability by design, ensuring that data cannot be mutated.
- Concurrent Programming: Clojure provides built-in support for concurrency with its STM (Software Transactional Memory) system, while Elm simplifies concurrent programming through its message-passing architecture for handling state changes.
- Type System: Clojure is dynamically and weakly typed, allowing for flexibility but potentially leading to runtime errors, whereas Elm is statically typed, detecting type errors at compile-time and providing more safety and predictability.
- Error Handling: Clojure relies heavily on Java's exception handling mechanisms, allowing the mix of functional programming with imperative error handling, while Elm emphasizes declarative error handling through its Result and Maybe types, promoting a more structured approach to dealing with errors.
- Compilation: Clojure code is compiled to Java bytecode, running on the JVM, offering interoperability with Java libraries and tools, while Elm compiles to optimized JavaScript, targeting web browsers for front-end development with a strict focus on performance and reliability.
In Summary, Clojure and Elm differ in syntax, approach to data structures, concurrency, type system, error handling, and compilation targets, catering to distinct paradigms of functional programming and emphasizing different aspects of language design.
Decisions about Clojure and Elm
Fronted Rent
at Fronted · | 11 upvotes · 705.7K views
We’re a new startup so we need to be able to deliver quick changes as we find our product market fit. We’ve also got to ensure that we’re moving money safely, and keeping perfect records. The technologies we’ve chosen mix mature but well maintained frameworks like Django, with modern web-first and api-first front ends like GraphQL, NextJS, and Chakra. We use a little Golang sparingly in our backend to ensure that when we interact with financial services, we do so with statically compiled, strongly typed, and strictly limited and reviewed code.
You can read all about it in our linked blog post.
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Learn MorePros of Clojure
Pros of Elm
Pros of Clojure
- It is a lisp117
- Persistent data structures100
- Concise syntax100
- jvm-based language90
- Concurrency89
- Interactive repl81
- Code is data76
- Open source61
- Lazy data structures61
- Macros57
- Functional49
- Simplistic23
- Immutable by default22
- Excellent collections20
- Fast-growing community19
- Multiple host languages15
- Simple (not easy!)15
- Practical Lisp15
- Because it's really fun to use10
- Addictive10
- Community9
- Web friendly9
- Rapid development9
- It creates Reusable code9
- Minimalist8
- Programmable programming language6
- Java interop6
- Regained interest in programming5
- Compiles to JavaScript4
- Share a lot of code with clojurescript/use on frontend3
- EDN3
- Clojurescript1
Pros of Elm
- Code stays clean45
- Great type system44
- No Runtime Exceptions40
- Fun33
- Easy to understand28
- Type safety23
- Correctness22
- JS fatigue17
- Ecosystem agrees on one Application Architecture12
- Declarative12
- Friendly compiler messages10
- Fast rendering8
- If it compiles, it runs7
- Welcoming community7
- Stable ecosystem5
- 'Batteries included'4
- Package.elm-lang.org2
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Cons of Clojure
Cons of Elm
Cons of Clojure
- Cryptic stacktraces11
- Need to wrap basically every java lib5
- Toxic community4
- Good code heavily relies on local conventions3
- Tonns of abandonware3
- Slow application startup3
- Usable only with REPL1
- Hiring issues1
- It's a lisp1
- Bad documented libs1
- Macros are overused by devs1
- Tricky profiling1
- IDE with high learning curve1
- Configuration bolierplate1
- Conservative community1
- Have no good and fast fmt0
Cons of Elm
- No typeclasses -> repitition (i.e. map has 130versions)3
- JS interop can not be async2
- JS interoperability a bit more involved2
- More code is required1
- No JSX/Template1
- Main developer enforces "the correct" style hard1
- No communication with users1
- Backwards compability breaks between releases1
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What is Clojure?
Clojure is designed to be a general-purpose language, combining the approachability and interactive development of a scripting language with an efficient and robust infrastructure for multithreaded programming. Clojure is a compiled language - it compiles directly to JVM bytecode, yet remains completely dynamic. Clojure is a dialect of Lisp, and shares with Lisp the code-as-data philosophy and a powerful macro system.
What is Elm?
Writing HTML apps is super easy with elm-lang/html. Not only does it render extremely fast, it also quietly guides you towards well-architected code.
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Jobs that mention Clojure and Elm as a desired skillset
What companies use Clojure?
What companies use Elm?
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What tools integrate with Clojure?
What tools integrate with Elm?
What tools integrate with Clojure?
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What are some alternatives to Clojure and Elm?
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.
Haskell
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.
Common Lisp
Lisp was originally created as a practical mathematical notation for computer programs, influenced by the notation of Alonzo Church's lambda calculus. It quickly became the favored programming language for artificial intelligence (AI) research. As one of the earliest programming languages, Lisp pioneered many ideas in computer science, including tree data structures, automatic storage management, dynamic typing, conditionals, higher-order functions, recursion, and the self-hosting compiler. [source: wikipedia]
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.
Julia
Julia is a high-level, high-performance dynamic programming language for technical computing, with syntax that is familiar to users of other technical computing environments. It provides a sophisticated compiler, distributed parallel execution, numerical accuracy, and an extensive mathematical function library.