Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Clojure VS Guile

Compare Clojure VS Guile and see what are their differences

Clojure logo 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.

Guile logo Guile

Guile is the GNU Ubiquitous Intelligent Language for Extensions, the official extension language for the GNU operating system.
  • Clojure Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-19

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

  • Guile Landing page
    Landing page //
    2020-01-01

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.

Guile features and specs

  • Extensibility
    Guile is designed to be embedded into applications, allowing developers to extend their software with scripting capabilities.
  • Scheme Language
    Guile is based on Scheme, a minimalist and flexible dialect of Lisp, which encourages learning and adoption due to its simplicity and power.
  • Integration with C
    Guile can be easily integrated with C programs, allowing the use of C libraries and functionalities within scripts.
  • Garbage Collection
    Guile provides automatic memory management through garbage collection, which can simplify memory management tasks for developers.
  • Portability
    Guile is designed to be portable across different platforms, making it a versatile choice for cross-platform development.
  • GNU Project
    As part of the GNU Project, Guile comes with the support of a large and active open-source community, which can be beneficial for development and troubleshooting.

Possible disadvantages of Guile

  • Performance
    Compared to some other programming languages and scripting tools, Guile may not be as performant, especially in computation-heavy tasks.
  • Popularity
    Guile is less popular than some other scripting languages, which might lead to fewer resources, libraries, and community support.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite Scheme's minimalist design, developers unfamiliar with Lisp-like syntax might face a learning curve before becoming proficient with Guile.
  • Limited Educational Resources
    There are fewer tutorials, books, and courses focused specifically on Guile compared to other more widely-used scripting languages.
  • Integration Complexity
    Embedding Guile in an application may require additional effort and understanding of both the application and Guile's API.

Clojure videos

What is the business value of Clojure?

More videos:

  • Review - Blog in Clojure Code Review
  • Review - Clojure Web App Code Review

Guile videos

Guile Review - with Tom Vasel

More videos:

  • Review - Guile Review - with Ryan Metzler
  • Review - Storm Collectibles GUILE Street Fighter Review BR / DiegoHDM

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Clojure and Guile)
Programming Language
82 82%
18% 18
OOP
77 77%
23% 23
Generic Programming Language
IDE
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Clojure seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 39 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
View more

Guile mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Guile yet. Tracking of Guile recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Clojure and Guile, you can also consider the following products

Elixir - Dynamic, functional language designed for building scalable and maintainable applications

Racket Lang - Racket (formerly PLT Scheme) is a modern programming language in the Lisp/Scheme family, suitable...

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

Chicken - A portable and efficient cross-platform Scheme implementation that compiles to C.

Rust - A safe, concurrent, practical language

Gambit - Cross-platform chess game.