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  5. Common Lisp vs F# vs R

Common Lisp vs F# vs R

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Common Lisp
Common Lisp
Stacks269
Followers255
Votes145
R Language
R Language
Stacks3.9K
Followers1.9K
Votes418
F#
F#
Stacks779
Followers556
Votes399
GitHub Stars2.2K
Forks316

Common Lisp vs F# vs R: What are the differences?

Introduction: When comparing Common Lisp, F#, and R, there are several key differences that set them apart in terms of language features and usage.

  1. Syntax: Common Lisp uses prefix notation while F# and R use infix notation. This affects the way code is written and read, making Common Lisp syntax unique compared to F# and R.

  2. Type System: F# is a statically typed language with type inference, while both Common Lisp and R are dynamically typed. This means that F# requires explicit type annotations for variables and functions, making it more strict in terms of type checking compared to Common Lisp and R.

  3. Concurrency: F# has built-in support for asynchronous and parallel programming, making it easier to write concurrent code compared to Common Lisp and R. Common Lisp and R require additional libraries or manual implementation for achieving similar concurrency features.

  4. Functional Programming Paradigm: F# is primarily a functional-first language, heavily influenced by ML lineage, while Common Lisp and R are multi-paradigm languages with functional programming capabilities. This makes F# more geared towards functional programming compared to Common Lisp and R.

  5. Community and Ecosystem: F# has a smaller community and ecosystem compared to Common Lisp and R, which have been around for a longer period. This may affect the availability of libraries, tools, and resources for developers using F# compared to Common Lisp and R.

  6. Performance: F# is known for its performance optimization features and integration with .NET platform for efficient execution, while Common Lisp and R may have varying performance characteristics depending on the implementation and use case. F# may offer better performance in certain scenarios compared to Common Lisp and R.

In Summary, Common Lisp, F#, and R differ in syntax, type system, concurrency capabilities, functional programming focus, community support, and performance optimization.

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Advice on Common Lisp, R Language, F#

Markus
Markus

Feb 3, 2021

Needs adviceonKotlinKotlinJavaJavaF#F#

Hi there. I want to expand my coding toolset. So I want to learn a second backend language besides Kotlin. Kotlin is fantastic. I love it in every aspect, and I think I can never return to Java. And also why should I? It is 100% interoperable with java and can co-exist in every project.

So my question here is. Which language do you think will bring me more joy? I think F#; it is more like Kotlin. Then C# (it's more or like 100% java). But, let's say I learn F#. Is it 100% interoperable like Kotlin? can they live side by side? Can I, then, apply to .NET jr jobs after a while, for example, or is C# the holy cow? I would like to learn .Net.

If it is the worst and only C# is acceptable, then which language should I learn? Dart? Golang?

284k views284k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Common Lisp
Common Lisp
R Language
R Language
F#
F#

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]

R provides a wide variety of statistical (linear and nonlinear modelling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering, ...) and graphical techniques, and is highly extensible.

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.

Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
2.2K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
316
Stacks
269
Stacks
3.9K
Stacks
779
Followers
255
Followers
1.9K
Followers
556
Votes
145
Votes
418
Votes
399
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 24
    Flexibility
  • 22
    High-performance
  • 17
    Comfortable: garbage collection, closures, macros, REPL
  • 13
    Stable
  • 12
    Lisp
Cons
  • 4
    Too many Parentheses
  • 3
    Standard did not evolve since 1994
  • 2
    No hygienic macros
  • 2
    Small library ecosystem
  • 1
    Ultra-conservative community
Pros
  • 86
    Data analysis
  • 64
    Graphics and data visualization
  • 55
    Free
  • 45
    Great community
  • 38
    Flexible statistical analysis toolkit
Cons
  • 6
    Very messy syntax
  • 4
    Tables must fit in RAM
  • 3
    Arrays indices start with 1
  • 2
    Messy syntax for string concatenation
  • 2
    No push command for vectors/lists
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

What are some alternatives to Common Lisp, R Language, F#?

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.

Elixir

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.

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