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Elixir vs JRuby: What are the differences?
Introduction
When considering programming languages for web development, Elixir and JRuby are two options that developers often contemplate. Both have their unique features and differences which make them suitable for different use cases.
Concurrency Model: One of the key differences between Elixir and JRuby is the concurrency model they use. Elixir, being built on the Erlang virtual machine, leverages the Actor Model for concurrency, allowing processes to communicate through message passing. On the other hand, JRuby follows the traditional Java threading model, which may result in potential thread safety issues.
Ease of Scalability: Elixir is known for its great scalability due to its lightweight processes and fault-tolerant nature. With Elixir's ability to handle millions of concurrent connections with ease, it is often preferred for projects requiring high scalability. In contrast, JRuby, being based on the JVM, may face challenges in scaling when dealing with a massive number of threads due to the limitations of the Java Virtual Machine.
Tooling and Libraries: Elixir has a well-established and growing ecosystem of libraries and tools, with a focus on web development and real-time applications. The Phoenix framework, built using Elixir, is a popular choice for building web applications. On the other hand, JRuby provides access to a vast array of Java libraries and tools, making it suitable for integrating with existing Java applications and leveraging Java ecosystem.
Performance: Elixir, being a functional programming language, is known for its performance and speed due to its immutable data structures and lightweight processes. This makes it ideal for applications requiring high performance. JRuby, being an implementation of Ruby on the JVM, may have slower performance compared to Elixir, especially in scenarios where high concurrency and processing speed are crucial.
Language Syntax and Paradigm: Elixir, being a functional programming language, emphasizes immutability, pattern matching, and recursion as core principles. This makes code more predictable and easier to reason about. On the other hand, JRuby follows the object-oriented programming paradigm of Ruby, focusing on objects, classes, and inheritance. Developers with a background in functional programming may find Elixir's syntax and paradigm more suitable for certain types of projects.
In Summary, Elixir and JRuby differ in their concurrency model, scalability, tooling, performance, and language paradigm, making them suited for different types of web development projects.
#rust #elixir 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
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.
Pros of Elixir
- Concurrency174
- Functional162
- Erlang vm133
- Great documentation113
- Great tooling105
- Immutable data structures87
- Open source81
- Pattern-matching77
- Easy to get started62
- Actor library59
- Functional with a neat syntax32
- Ruby inspired29
- Erlang evolved25
- Homoiconic24
- Beauty of Ruby, Speed of Erlang/C22
- Fault Tolerant17
- Simple14
- High Performance13
- Doc as first class citizen11
- Good lang11
- Pipe Operator11
- Stinkin' fast, no memory leaks, easy on the eyes9
- Fun to write9
- OTP8
- Resilient to failure8
- GenServer takes the guesswork out of background work6
- Pattern matching4
- Not Swift4
- Idempotence4
- Fast, Concurrent with clean error messages4
- Easy to use3
- Dynamic Typing2
- Error isolation2
Pros of JRuby
- Java8
- Faster than Ruby7
- Threads3
- JVM3
- Open source2
- Supports native Ruby gems out the box2
- Garbage collection built-in2
- Built-in Testing2
- Deploy as executable jay2
- Great community1
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Cons of Elixir
- Fewer jobs for Elixir experts11
- Smaller userbase than other mainstream languages7
- Elixir's dot notation less readable ("object": 1st arg)5
- Dynamic typing4
- Difficult to understand2
- Not a lot of learning books available1