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Erlang vs JavaScript vs Python: What are the differences?
Concurrency Model: Erlang is designed for building highly scalable and fault-tolerant systems with a built-in concurrency model based on lightweight processes that communicate via message passing. JavaScript and Python, on the other hand, use a threading model for concurrency, which can be less efficient and more prone to errors.
Syntax: Erlang has a unique syntax that may appear strange to developers coming from more mainstream languages like JavaScript and Python. It uses pattern matching extensively and omits traditional looping constructs like for and while loops. JavaScript and Python have more conventional syntax that is easier for beginners to grasp.
Type System: Erlang is a dynamically typed language, meaning that variable types are determined at runtime. JavaScript also has dynamic typing, while Python has strong, dynamic typing. This means that Python will throw errors if variable types are not compatible, which can help catch bugs earlier in development.
Error Handling: In Erlang, errors are treated as “failures” and are expected to occur in a distributed system. The language provides constructs like try/catch for handling errors gracefully. JavaScript and Python have similar error-handling mechanisms, but the approach to handling errors in Erlang is more ingrained into the language design.
Standard Library: Erlang comes with a powerful set of tools and libraries for building distributed and fault-tolerant systems out of the box. JavaScript and Python also have extensive standard libraries, but they are more focused on general-purpose programming rather than specific use cases like Erlang.
Community and Support: Erlang has a smaller but dedicated community that is focused on building scalable and fault-tolerant systems. JavaScript and Python have large, diverse communities with a wide range of libraries and resources available for various tasks beyond concurrency and fault-tolerance.
In Summary, Erlang differs from JavaScript and Python in its concurrency model, syntax, type system, error handling, standard library, and community support.
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Learn MorePros of Erlang
Pros of JavaScript
Pros of Python
Pros of Erlang
- Real time, distributed applications62
- Concurrency Support62
- Fault tolerance58
- Soft real-time36
- Open source32
- Message passing22
- Functional programming22
- Immutable data16
- Works as expected14
- Facebook chat uses it at backend6
- Practical5
- Knowledgeable community5
- Bullets included4
- WhatsApp uses it at backend1
Pros of JavaScript
- Can be used on frontend/backend1.7K
- It's everywhere1.5K
- Lots of great frameworks1.2K
- Fast898
- Light weight746
- Flexible425
- You can't get a device today that doesn't run js392
- Non-blocking i/o286
- Ubiquitousness237
- Expressive191
- Extended functionality to web pages55
- Relatively easy language49
- Executed on the client side46
- Relatively fast to the end user30
- Pure Javascript25
- Functional programming21
- Async15
- Full-stack13
- Future Language of The Web12
- Setup is easy12
- Its everywhere12
- Because I love functions11
- JavaScript is the New PHP11
- Like it or not, JS is part of the web standard10
- Easy9
- Can be used in backend, frontend and DB9
- Expansive community9
- Everyone use it9
- Easy to hire developers8
- Most Popular Language in the World8
- For the good parts8
- Can be used both as frontend and backend as well8
- No need to use PHP8
- Powerful8
- Evolution of C7
- Its fun and fast7
- It's fun7
- Nice7
- Versitile7
- Hard not to use7
- Popularized Class-Less Architecture & Lambdas7
- Agile, packages simple to use7
- Supports lambdas and closures7
- Love-hate relationship7
- Photoshop has 3 JS runtimes built in7
- 1.6K Can be used on frontend/backend6
- Client side JS uses the visitors CPU to save Server Res6
- It let's me use Babel & Typescript6
- Easy to make something6
- Can be used on frontend/backend/Mobile/create PRO Ui6
- Client processing5
- What to add5
- Everywhere5
- Scope manipulation5
- Function expressions are useful for callbacks5
- Stockholm Syndrome5
- Promise relationship5
- Clojurescript5
- Only Programming language on browser4
- Because it is so simple and lightweight4
- Easy to learn and test1
- Easy to understand1
- Not the best1
- Subskill #41
- Hard to learn1
- Test21
- Test1
- Easy to learn1
- Hard 彤0
Pros of Python
- Great libraries1.2K
- Readable code963
- Beautiful code847
- Rapid development788
- Large community691
- Open source438
- Elegant393
- Great community282
- Object oriented273
- Dynamic typing221
- Great standard library77
- Very fast60
- Functional programming55
- Easy to learn50
- Scientific computing46
- Great documentation35
- Productivity29
- Matlab alternative28
- Easy to read28
- Simple is better than complex24
- It's the way I think20
- Imperative19
- Very programmer and non-programmer friendly18
- Free18
- Machine learning support17
- Powerfull language17
- Fast and simple16
- Scripting14
- Explicit is better than implicit12
- Ease of development11
- Clear and easy and powerfull10
- Unlimited power9
- Import antigravity8
- It's lean and fun to code8
- Print "life is short, use python"7
- Python has great libraries for data processing7
- High Documented language6
- I love snakes6
- Readability counts6
- Rapid Prototyping6
- Now is better than never6
- Although practicality beats purity6
- Flat is better than nested6
- Great for tooling6
- There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious6
- Fast coding and good for competitions6
- Web scraping5
- Lists, tuples, dictionaries5
- Great for analytics5
- Beautiful is better than ugly4
- Easy to learn and use4
- Easy to setup and run smooth4
- Multiple Inheritence4
- CG industry needs4
- Socially engaged community4
- Complex is better than complicated4
- Plotting4
- Simple and easy to learn4
- List comprehensions3
- Powerful language for AI3
- Flexible and easy3
- It is Very easy , simple and will you be love programmi3
- Many types of collections3
- If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a g3
- If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad id3
- Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules3
- Pip install everything3
- No cruft3
- Generators3
- Import this3
- Batteries included2
- Securit2
- Can understand easily who are new to programming2
- Should START with this but not STICK with This2
- A-to-Z2
- Because of Netflix2
- Only one way to do it2
- Better outcome2
- Good for hacking2
- Best friend for NLP1
- Sexy af1
- Procedural programming1
- Automation friendly1
- Slow1
- Keep it simple0
- Powerful0
- Ni0
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Cons of Erlang
Cons of JavaScript
Cons of Python
Cons of Erlang
- Languange is not popular demand1
Cons of JavaScript
- A constant moving target, too much churn22
- Horribly inconsistent20
- Javascript is the New PHP15
- No ability to monitor memory utilitization9
- Shows Zero output in case of ANY error8
- Thinks strange results are better than errors7
- Can be ugly6
- No GitHub3
- Slow2
- HORRIBLE DOCUMENTS, faulty code, repo has bugs0
Cons of Python
- Still divided between python 2 and python 353
- Performance impact28
- Poor syntax for anonymous functions26
- GIL22
- Package management is a mess19
- Too imperative-oriented14
- Hard to understand12
- Dynamic typing12
- Very slow12
- Indentations matter a lot8
- Not everything is expression8
- Incredibly slow7
- Explicit self parameter in methods7
- Requires C functions for dynamic modules6
- Poor DSL capabilities6
- No anonymous functions6
- Fake object-oriented programming5
- Threading5
- The "lisp style" whitespaces5
- Official documentation is unclear.5
- Hard to obfuscate5
- Circular import5
- Lack of Syntax Sugar leads to "the pyramid of doom"4
- The benevolent-dictator-for-life quit4
- Not suitable for autocomplete4
- Meta classes2
- Training wheels (forced indentation)1
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What is Erlang?
Some of Erlang's uses are in telecoms, banking, e-commerce, computer telephony and instant messaging. Erlang's runtime system has built-in support for concurrency, distribution and fault tolerance. OTP is set of Erlang libraries and design principles providing middle-ware to develop these systems.
What is 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.
What is 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.
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What are some alternatives to Erlang, JavaScript, and Python?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Akka
Akka is a toolkit and runtime for building highly concurrent, distributed, and resilient message-driven applications on the JVM.