Clojure VS Elm

Compare Clojure VS Elm and see what are their differences

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Clojure

Clojure is a dynamic, general-purpose programming language, combining the approachability and interactive development of a scripting language with an efficient and robust infrastructure for multithreaded programming.

Elm

A type inferred, functional reactive language that compiles to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Landing page //
2023-09-19

We recommend LibHunt Clojure for discovery and comparisons of trending Clojure projects.

Landing page //
2022-09-23

We recommend LibHunt Elm for discovery and comparisons of trending Elm projects.

Clojure

Website: clojure.org
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Elm

Website: elm-lang.org
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Clojure features and specs

Functional Programming Paradigm
Clojure emphasizes immutability and first-class functions, which can lead to more predictable and maintainable code.
Interoperability with Java
Clojure runs on the JVM, allowing seamless integration with the vast ecosystem of Java libraries and tools.
REPL Driven Development
Clojure's Read-Eval-Print Loop (REPL) allows for interactive programming, making it easier to test and debug code in real time.
Concise Syntax
Clojure's syntax is minimalistic and expressive, which can lead to more concise and readable code.
Concurrency Support
Clojure provides strong support for concurrent programming with features like Software Transactional Memory (STM) and immutable data structures.

Possible disadvantages of Clojure

Steep Learning Curve
The functional programming paradigm and Lisp-like syntax can be challenging for newcomers, particularly those from imperative programming backgrounds.
Performance Overhead
Clojure's emphasis on immutability can introduce performance overhead compared to languages that use mutable data structures.
Limited Tooling
While improving, the ecosystem for Clojure is not as mature as for some other mainstream languages, which can pose challenges in finding robust development and debugging tools.
Less Mainstream
Clojure is not as commonly used as languages like Python or Java, which can make it harder to find experienced developers or community support.
Verbose Error Messages
Error messages in Clojure can sometimes be verbose and difficult to understand, which can complicate the debugging process.

Elm features and specs

Strong Type System
Elm's type system is designed to catch errors at compile-time, reducing runtime errors and improving code reliability. It emphasizes immutability, making it easier to reason about and maintain code.
No Runtime Exceptions
Elm enforces safety with its type system, ensuring that runtime exceptions are almost impossible. This leads to more robust and predictable applications.
Friendly Error Messages
Elm's compiler provides exceptionally helpful and user-friendly error messages, which make debugging easier and learning the language more approachable.
Optimized Performance
Elm's compiler generates highly optimized JavaScript, resulting in fast and efficient applications. Performance tuning is handled by the compiler, freeing developers from many optimization concerns.
Functional Programming
Elm is purely functional, promoting a clear and declarative coding style. It encourages developers to write more predictable and maintainable code by leveraging functional programming principles.
Built-In Architecture
The Elm Architecture (Model-Update-View) provides a consistent pattern for building applications, which can simplify the development process and improve code organization.
Interoperability with JavaScript
Elm allows you to seamlessly integrate with existing JavaScript code through ports, giving you the flexibility to gradually adopt Elm or work with libraries that are not available in Elm.

Possible disadvantages of Elm

Small Ecosystem
Elm's ecosystem is relatively small compared to more established languages like JavaScript or TypeScript, meaning there are fewer libraries and tools available, which might limit certain functionalities out of the box.
Learning Curve
Elm’s functional programming paradigm and strict type system can be challenging for developers who are not familiar with functional programming, leading to a steep learning curve.
Limited Developer Community
The Elm community is smaller compared to other languages, which can make finding support or example projects more difficult. This might also affect the availability of tutorials and learning resources.
Interoperability Overhead
While interoperability with JavaScript is possible through ports, it introduces additional complexity and overhead, making integrated projects more challenging to manage.
Slower Release Cycle
Elm's development and release cycle can be slower compared to other technologies. Updates and new features might take longer to be released, impacting the adoption of cutting-edge practices.
Single File Approach
In Elm, managing large codebases can be problematic due to the lack of support for splitting code into multiple modules or files akin to solutions in other languages, which can make the code less modular and harder to navigate.

Clojure videos

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What is the business value of Clojure?

Elm videos

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Nightmare on Elm St (series review)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Clojure and Elm)

Clojure

Elm

Programming Language

50 50%

Programming Language

50% 50

OOP

55 55%

OOP

45% 45

Generic Programming Language

57 57%

Generic Programming Language

43% 43

Learning Resources

100 100%

Learning Resources

0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Clojure and Elm. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Elm should be more popular than Clojure. It has been mentiond 123 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Clojure mentions (39)

Create a Server Driven CLI from your REST API
Another project of mine Bob can be seen as an example of spec-first design. All its tooling follow that idea and its CLI inspired Climate. A lot of Bob uses Clojure a language that I cherish and who's ideas make me think better in every other place too. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
Scheming About Clojure
Clojure is a LISP for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). As a schemer, I wondered if I should give Clojure a go professionally. After all, I enjoy Rich Hickey's talks and even Uncle Bob is a Clojure fan. So I considered strength and weaknesses from my point of view:. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
Moving your bugs forward in time
‍For the rest of this post I’ll list off some more tactical examples of things that you can do towards this goal. Savvy readers will note that these are not novel ideas of my own, and in fact a lot of the things on this list are popular core features in modern languages such as Kotlin, Rust, and Clojure. Kotlin, in particular, has done an amazing job of emphasizing these best practices while still being an... - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
Let's write a simple microservice in Clojure
This article will explain how to write a simple service in Clojure. The sweet spot of making applications in Clojure is that you can expressively use an entire rich Java ecosystem. Less code, less boilerplate: it is possible to achieve more with less. In this example, I use most of the libraries from the Java world; everything else is a thin Clojure wrapper around Java libraries. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
A new F# compiler feature: graph-based type-checking
I have a tangential question that is related to this cool new feature. Warning: the question I ask comes from a part of my brain that is currently melted due to heavy thinking. Context: I write a fair amount of Clojure, and in Lisps the code itself is a tree. Just like this F# parallel graph type-checker. In Lisps, one would use Macros to perform compile-time computation to accomplish something like this, I think.... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago

Elm mentions (123)

3 Options to Avoid Side-Effects in Web Dev
Use languages that don’t have side-effects; Elm for UI, and Roc for API/CLI. - Source: dev.to / 15 days ago
Reactivity in Programming
Reactive programming itself is rarely found in pure form. It is often combined with other paradigms. This is how such mixes as Imperative Reactive Programming, Object-Oriented Reactive Programming and Functional Reactive Programming appeared. The latter is the most popular, and the Elm language is considered one of its main representatives. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
Tsonnet #13 - Carets, columns, and clues: adding lexing error tracing
I've drawn inspiration from Elm and the blog post Compiler Errors for Humans -- it is nearly a decade old and still inspiring to read. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
An Ode to TypeScript Enums
When I see this it makes me want to run for ReasonML/ReScript/Elm/PureScript. Sum types (without payloads on the instances they are effectively enums) should not require a evening filling ceremonial dance event to define. https://reasonml.github.io/ https://rescript-lang.org/ https://elm-lang.org/ https://www.purescript.org/ (any I forgot?) It's nice that TS is a strict super set of JS... But that's about the only... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
TypeScript's Lack of Naming Types and Type Conversion in Angular
Elm, ReScript, F#, Ocaml, Scala… it’s just normal to name your types, then use them places. In fact, you’ll often create the types _before_ the code, even if you’re not really practicing DDD (Domain Driven Design). Yes, you’ll do many after the fact when doing functions, or you start testing things and decide to change your design, and make new types. Either way, it’s just “the norm”. You then do the other norms... - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago