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Akka vs Scala: What are the differences?
Introduction: Akka and Scala are two important technologies in the field of software development. Akka is a toolkit and runtime for building highly concurrent, distributed, and fault-tolerant applications on the JVM, while Scala is a general-purpose programming language that runs on the JVM and is highly compatible with Java.
1. Scalability and Concurrency: Akka is designed specifically for building highly scalable and concurrent applications. It provides an actor-based concurrency model that simplifies handling of concurrent tasks and enables efficient utilization of system resources. Scala, on the other hand, is a programming language that supports functional programming and provides constructs for concurrent programming but does not have built-in support for handling concurrency at the level of Akka.
2. Fault-Tolerance and Resilience: Akka provides built-in mechanisms for handling failures and building fault-tolerant systems. It allows for message-based communication between actors and provides supervision strategies to handle failures and errors in a controlled and resilient manner. Scala, being a programming language, does not have the built-in mechanisms and abstractions provided by Akka for building fault-tolerant systems.
3. Distributed Computing: Akka has built-in support for building distributed systems and enables message passing between actors running on different machines. It provides location transparency and allows for transparent deployment of actors across nodes in a cluster. Scala, being a programming language, does not have the built-in features and abstractions of Akka for distributed computing.
4. Actor Model: Akka is based on the actor model of concurrency, where actors are independent entities that communicate with each other by sending messages. It provides a lightweight and scalable model for concurrent programming. Scala, being a programming language, does not enforce the actor model and developers have the flexibility to choose different models for concurrency, such as threads or futures.
5. Java Interoperability: Akka is designed to be used with Java and provides seamless interoperability with Java code. It allows Java developers to easily integrate Akka into their existing Java applications and leverage the power of the actor model for building concurrent and distributed systems. Scala, being a programming language, can also be used with Java but does not have the specific interoperability features provided by Akka.
6. Tooling and Ecosystem: Akka has a rich ecosystem and provides various tools and libraries for building scalable and concurrent applications. It has built-in support for monitoring, testing, and clustering, making it easier to develop and maintain complex systems. Scala, being a programming language, does not have the same level of tooling and ecosystem specific to Akka.
In Summary, Akka and Scala differ in terms of scalability and concurrency, fault-tolerance and resilience, distributed computing, actor model, Java interoperability, and tooling and ecosystem.
Finding the best server-side tool for building a personal information organizer that focuses on performance, simplicity, and scalability.
performance and scalability get a prototype going fast by keeping codebase simple find hosting that is affordable and scales well (Java/Scala-based ones might not be affordable)
I've picked Node.js here but honestly it's a toss up between that and Go around this. It really depends on your background and skillset around "get something going fast" for one of these languages. Based on not knowing that I've suggested Node because it can be easier to prototype quickly and built right is performant enough. The scaffolding provided around Node.js services (Koa, Restify, NestJS) means you can get up and running pretty easily. It's important to note that the tooling surrounding this is good also, such as tracing, metrics et al (important when you're building production ready services).
You'll get more scalability and perf from go, but balancing them out I would say that you'll get pretty far with a well built Node.JS service (our entire site with over 1.5k requests/m scales easily and holds it's own with 4 pods in production.
Without knowing the scale you are building for and the systems you are using around it it's hard to say for certain this is the right route.
We needed to incorporate Big Data Framework for data stream analysis, specifically Apache Spark / Apache Storm. The three options of languages were most suitable for the job - Python, Java, Scala.
The winner was Python for the top of the class, high-performance data analysis libraries (NumPy, Pandas) written in C, quick learning curve, quick prototyping allowance, and a great connection with other future tools for machine learning as Tensorflow.
The whole code was shorter & more readable which made it easier to develop and maintain.
Pros of Akka
- Great concurrency model32
- Fast17
- Actor Library12
- Open source10
- Resilient7
- Message driven5
- Scalable5
Pros of Scala
- Static typing187
- Pattern-matching178
- Jvm177
- Scala is fun172
- Types138
- Concurrency95
- Actor library88
- Solve functional problems86
- Open source81
- Solve concurrency in a safer way80
- Functional44
- Fast24
- Generics23
- It makes me a better engineer18
- Syntactic sugar17
- Scalable13
- First-class functions10
- Type safety10
- Interactive REPL9
- Expressive8
- SBT7
- Case classes6
- Implicit parameters6
- Rapid and Safe Development using Functional Programming4
- JVM, OOP and Functional programming, and static typing4
- Object-oriented4
- Used by Twitter4
- Functional Proframming3
- Spark2
- Beautiful Code2
- Safety2
- Growing Community2
- DSL1
- Rich Static Types System and great Concurrency support1
- Naturally enforce high code quality1
- Akka Streams1
- Akka1
- Reactive Streams1
- Easy embedded DSLs1
- Mill build tool1
- Freedom to choose the right tools for a job0
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Cons of Akka
- Mixing futures with Akka tell is difficult3
- Closing of futures2
- No type safety2
- Very difficult to refactor1
- Typed actors still not stable1
Cons of Scala
- Slow compilation time11
- Multiple ropes and styles to hang your self7
- Too few developers available6
- Complicated subtyping4
- My coworkers using scala are racist against other stuff2
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