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Erlang

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Hack

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+ 1
29
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Erlang vs Hack: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Erlang and Hack are two programming languages that differ in various aspects. In this markdown, we will explore 6 key differences between Erlang and Hack.

  1. Concurrency Model: Erlang is known for its built-in support for concurrency and scalability. It has lightweight processes, called "actors," which communicate through message passing. This concurrency model allows Erlang to handle a large number of concurrent tasks efficiently. In contrast, Hack does not have native support for concurrency and instead relies on traditional thread-based models for parallel execution.

  2. Static Typing vs. Dynamic Typing: Erlang is a dynamically typed language, meaning that variable types are determined at runtime. This flexibility allows for easy code modification and dynamic behavior. Hack, on the other hand, is a statically typed language that requires variable types to be declared at compile-time. This ensures code correctness and performance optimization but might make the development process more rigid.

  3. Platforms & Target Audience: Erlang was designed specifically for creating fault-tolerant and high-availability systems. It is widely used in telecommunication applications and distributed systems. Hack, on the other hand, is a programming language developed by Facebook for their own use. It focuses on web development and is optimized for PHP-based projects, targeting a different set of audiences and use cases.

  4. Concurrency Control: Erlang provides built-in tools and techniques for handling concurrency and protecting shared resources, such as a process-based memory model and message passing. These features make it easier to deal with concurrency-related issues like race conditions and deadlocks. In Hack, concurrency control is left to the developer's discretion, requiring the use of external libraries or manual synchronization mechanisms.

  5. Error Handling: Erlang has a special error handling mechanism called "let it crash." It encourages developers to isolate and handle errors at a local level instead of trying to catch all exceptions centrally. This approach allows for fault-tolerant systems that can recover from failures without affecting the whole application. In Hack, error handling is more traditional, relying on try-catch blocks for exception handling.

  6. Tooling and Ecosystem: Erlang has a mature ecosystem with a wide range of tools and libraries that facilitate development, testing, and deployment. It has been widely adopted and has a large and active community. Hack, being a relatively newer language, has a smaller ecosystem with fewer tools and libraries available. However, being developed by Facebook, it has extensive support for their own frameworks and technologies.

In summary, Erlang and Hack differ in their concurrency models, typing systems, target audience, concurrency control mechanisms, error handling approaches, and ecosystem maturity.

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Pros of Erlang
Pros of Hack
  • 62
    Real time, distributed applications
  • 62
    Concurrency Support
  • 58
    Fault tolerance
  • 36
    Soft real-time
  • 32
    Open source
  • 22
    Message passing
  • 22
    Functional programming
  • 16
    Immutable data
  • 14
    Works as expected
  • 6
    Facebook chat uses it at backend
  • 5
    Practical
  • 5
    Knowledgeable community
  • 4
    Bullets included
  • 1
    WhatsApp uses it at backend
  • 6
    Interoperates seamlessly with php
  • 6
    Open source
  • 5
    Backed by facebook
  • 4
    HHVM
  • 2
    PHP like
  • 2
    Great documentation
  • 2
    Generics
  • 1
    Fast
  • 1
    Used by facebook
  • 0
    Great type system
  • 0
    Easy to learn

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Cons of Erlang
Cons of Hack
  • 1
    Languange is not popular demand
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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 Hack?

    Hack provides instantaneous type checking via a local server that watches the filesystem. It typically runs in less than 200 milliseconds, making it easy to integrate into your development workflow without introducing a noticeable delay.

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    What companies use Erlang?
    What companies use Hack?
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    What tools integrate with Erlang?
    What tools integrate with Hack?

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    What are some alternatives to Erlang and Hack?
    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.
    See all alternatives