Elixir vs Gleam: What are the differences?

Introduction

Elixir and Gleam are both programming languages that are known for their capabilities in building reliable and scalable systems. While they may share some similarities, there are key differences between them that set them apart in terms of syntax, features, and ecosystem.

1. Syntax: The syntax of Elixir is heavily influenced by Ruby, with a focus on readability and expressiveness. Gleam, on the other hand, borrows from languages like Rust and Haskell, emphasizing on type safety and functional programming concepts. While Elixir uses a dynamic type system, Gleam introduces static typing to ensure compile-time safety.

2. Concurrency: Elixir has built-in support for concurrency with its lightweight processes, known as actors, and its ability to handle millions of concurrent connections. It utilizes the actor model for message passing and offers robust abstractions for handling concurrent tasks. Gleam, however, relies on the concept of immutability and pure functions to achieve safe concurrency, avoiding the need for processes like Elixir's actors.

3. Ecosystem: Elixir has a mature ecosystem with a wide range of libraries and frameworks, such as Phoenix for web development and Ecto for database interactions. It also benefits from seamless integration with existing Erlang libraries. Gleam, on the other hand, is a relatively new language with a growing ecosystem, but it benefits from leveraging the Rust ecosystem for performance-critical tasks.

4. Metaprogramming: Elixir is known for its powerful metaprogramming capabilities, allowing developers to dynamically modify the language and generate code at runtime. This feature empowers the development of domain-specific languages and powerful abstractions. Gleam, however, does not support metaprogramming, focusing on strong static typing and compile-time safety.

5. Tooling: Elixir has a rich set of development tools, including a built-in test framework (ExUnit), a package manager (Hex), a code formatter (mix format), and a documentation generator (ExDoc). It also benefits from the supportive community and abundant learning resources. Gleam, being a statically-typed language, relies on the Rust tooling ecosystem, leveraging tools like Cargo for package management and Rust Analyzer for IDE integration.

6. Garbage Collection: Elixir relies on the BEAM virtual machine's garbage collection mechanism, which employs a highly efficient and concurrent garbage collector. On the other hand, Gleam compiles to native code using the Rust compiler, benefiting from Rust's approach to memory management, which includes ownership, borrowing, and lifetimes.

In summary, Elixir and Gleam differ in their syntax, concurrency models, ecosystems, metaprogramming capabilities, tooling, and garbage collection mechanisms. Elixir emphasizes readability and scalability while providing dynamic typing and metaprogramming, whereas Gleam focuses on static typing, type safety, and leveraging the Rust ecosystem for performance-critical tasks.