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  1. Stackups
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  3. Languages
  4. Languages
  5. Haskell vs Swift

Haskell vs Swift

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Swift
Swift
Stacks21.9K
Followers13.6K
Votes1.3K
Haskell
Haskell
Stacks1.4K
Followers1.2K
Votes527

Haskell vs Swift: What are the differences?

Introduction

Haskell and Swift are both programming languages that have gained popularity in recent years. While they have some similarities, there are also significant differences between the two. In this article, we will explore the key differences between Haskell and Swift.

  1. Type System: One major difference between Haskell and Swift is their type systems. Haskell is a statically-typed language with a very strong and expressive type system. It uses type inference to automatically deduce the types of variables and it enforces strong static typing. On the other hand, Swift also has a strong type system, but it is more flexible and allows for both static and dynamic typing. Swift also provides optional types, which can be used to handle nullable values.

  2. Functional vs. Object-Oriented: Another difference between Haskell and Swift is their programming paradigms. Haskell is a purely functional programming language, which means that it emphasizes immutability and avoids the use of side effects. It promotes the use of pure functions and has built-in support for concepts like higher-order functions, currying, and lazy evaluation. On the other hand, Swift is a multi-paradigm language that supports both object-oriented and functional programming. It allows developers to write code using object-oriented principles, such as classes, objects, and inheritance, as well as functional programming concepts, such as higher-order functions and closures.

  3. Concurrency and Parallelism: Haskell and Swift also differ in how they handle concurrency and parallelism. Haskell has built-in support for concurrent programming with its lightweight threads and the ability to schedule them in parallel. It provides abstractions for working with parallelism, such as software transactional memory (STM) and data parallelism. Swift, on the other hand, relies on a different approach for concurrency called Grand Central Dispatch (GCD). GCD is a high-performance programming framework that allows developers to perform asynchronous tasks using queues and dispatch groups.

  4. Syntax and Expressiveness: Haskell and Swift have distinct syntaxes and levels of expressiveness. Haskell has a more concise and mathematical-like syntax, which can be challenging for beginners. It relies heavily on pattern matching and function composition to express complex computations. Swift, on the other hand, has a syntax that is more similar to traditional programming languages, like C and Objective-C. It aims to be easy to read and write, with a focus on simplicity and clarity.

  5. Community and Ecosystem: The communities and ecosystems surrounding Haskell and Swift are also different. Haskell has a smaller but highly active and engaged community. It has a rich set of libraries and tools for various domains, such as web development, data analysis, and parsing. The Haskell community also values correctness and strong typing, often emphasizing formal verification and testing. On the other hand, Swift has a larger and more diverse community, thanks to its popularity among iOS and macOS developers. It has a wide range of libraries and frameworks for mobile and desktop development, as well as server-side programming.

  6. Platform Support: Haskell and Swift also differ in terms of platform support. Haskell is a cross-platform language that can be used on various operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. It has compiler implementations, such as GHC (Glasgow Haskell Compiler), which support different platforms. Swift, on the other hand, was initially designed for iOS and macOS development. However, it has expanded its platform support and can now be used for server-side programming on Linux, as well as for developing applications on other Apple platforms, like watchOS and tvOS.

In summary, Haskell is a statically-typed, purely functional language with a strong type system, while Swift is a multi-paradigm language that supports both object-oriented and functional programming. Haskell emphasizes correctness and strongly-typed expressions, while Swift focuses on simplicity and platform support. They differ in their type systems, programming paradigms, concurrency models, syntax, community, ecosystem, and platform support.

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Advice on Swift, Haskell

Timm
Timm

VP Of Engineering at Flexperto GmbH

Nov 10, 2020

Decided

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.

682k views682k
Comments
Gabor
Gabor

CTO at momento.

Aug 23, 2021

Decided

As a startup, we need the maximum flexibility and the ability to reach our customers in a more suitable way. So a hybrid application approach is the best because it allows you to develop a cross-platform application in a unique codebase. The choice behind Ionic is Angular, I think that angular is the best framework to develop a complex application that needs a lot of service interaction, its modularity forces you (the developer) to write the code in the correct way, so it can be maintainable and reusable.

209k views209k
Comments
Adit
Adit

Founder at Stardust

Oct 22, 2021

Needs adviceonRailsRailsRustRustSwiftSwift

Hey there, we are looking to develop our own layer 1 blockchain. We're splitting the responsibilities for origination, clearing, and settlement across three independent but cooperating node networks. We've gotten our Proof of Concept up using Ruby on Rails for the nodes, you can see it as the attached link. So far, so good. Now we are looking to convert it into a distributable and are trying to figure out which language is the best for this.

Essentially our needs from the language are: solid networking tools and speed, very fast execution of basic actions, some parallel execution, and able to compile the end product into an easy to distribute and use package for end users.

I was learning Rust, but I have a healthy amount of experience with Swift and right now, it's only me coding. I've only done iOS coding, but have built a fintech app from scratch that's now in the app store so I'm pretty familiar with the language and its benefits. Haven't experimented with Vapor or any of the application development tools, and I wanted to know if it is a crazy idea to develop a blockchain node in Swift instead.

132k views132k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Swift
Swift
Haskell
Haskell

Writing code is interactive and fun, the syntax is concise yet expressive, and apps run lightning-fast. Swift is ready for your next iOS and OS X project — or for addition into your current app — because Swift code works side-by-side with Objective-C.

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.

-
Statically typed; Purely functional; Type inference; Concurrent
Statistics
Stacks
21.9K
Stacks
1.4K
Followers
13.6K
Followers
1.2K
Votes
1.3K
Votes
527
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 259
    Ios
  • 180
    Elegant
  • 126
    Not Objective-C
  • 107
    Backed by apple
  • 93
    Type inference
Cons
  • 6
    Must own a mac
  • 2
    Memory leaks are not uncommon
  • 1
    Very irritatingly picky about things that’s
  • 1
    Is a lot more effort than lua to make simple functions
  • 1
    Complicated process for exporting modules
Pros
  • 90
    Purely-functional programming
  • 66
    Statically typed
  • 59
    Type-safe
  • 39
    Open source
  • 38
    Great community
Cons
  • 9
    Too much distraction in language extensions
  • 8
    Error messages can be very confusing
  • 5
    Libraries have poor documentation
  • 3
    No good ABI
  • 3
    No best practices
Integrations
Cocoa Touch (iOS)
Cocoa Touch (iOS)
No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Swift, Haskell?

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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