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Crystal (programming language) VS Chicken

Compare Crystal (programming language) VS Chicken and see what are their differences

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Crystal (programming language) logo Crystal (programming language)

Programming language with Ruby-like syntax that compiles to efficient native code.

Chicken logo Chicken

A portable and efficient cross-platform Scheme implementation that compiles to C.
  • Crystal (programming language) Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-26
  • Chicken Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-18

Crystal (programming language) features and specs

  • Performance
    Crystal is designed to have the performance of C, thanks to its compilation to efficient native code. Its static type system and low-level memory management capabilities allow optimized execution.
  • Syntax
    Crystal offers a syntax that is heavily inspired by Ruby, making it intuitive and familiar for Ruby developers. This can significantly reduce the learning curve and improve developer productivity.
  • Type Inference
    Crystal provides powerful type inference, enabling developers to write less boilerplate code while still benefiting from the safety and performance of a statically-typed language.
  • Concurrency
    Crystal supports lightweight concurrency with fibers, which allows developers to write efficient and scalable concurrent programs with a simpler syntax compared to traditional threading models.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    Crystal has an active and growing community. It also boasts a rich ecosystem with libraries and tools, making it easier for developers to find resources and support.

Possible disadvantages of Crystal (programming language)

  • Maturity
    Crystal is still a relatively young language compared to more established languages like Python or Java. This can mean fewer resources, libraries, and tools, as well as potential instability in certain areas.
  • Compilation Time
    Crystal's compilation times can be slower compared to interpreted languages, particularly for larger codebases. This can impact development workflows and iteration speed.
  • Binary Size
    Compiled Crystal programs tend to generate larger binary sizes compared to other compiled languages like Go or Rust. This can be a consideration for resource-constrained environments.
  • Platform Support
    Being less mature, Crystal may have fewer options for platform-specific optimizations and integrations, which could limit its use in certain specialized applications.
  • Tooling
    Although the situation is improving, Crystal's tooling ecosystem is not as mature as those of older languages. This can affect the availability and quality of IDE support, debugging tools, and other development aids.

Chicken features and specs

  • Simplicity
    Chicken Scheme is designed to be simple and easy to understand, making it accessible for new users and those familiar with Scheme.
  • R5RS Compatibility
    Chicken Scheme implements the R5RS standard, which ensures compatibility with other Scheme implementations and a wide range of Scheme programs.
  • Portability
    It is highly portable and runs on various platforms, making it a flexible choice for cross-platform development.
  • Extensive Libraries
    Chicken has a rich repository of user-contributed extensions (eggs), providing a vast set of libraries that extend its functionality.
  • Performance
    Chicken Scheme is designed for high performance, using an optimizing compiler that translates Scheme code into C, which is then compiled to machine code.

Possible disadvantages of Chicken

  • Limited Community
    Compared to more popular languages, Chicken Scheme has a smaller developer community, which may limit resources and support.
  • Egg Management Complexity
    Managing extensions (eggs) can be complex and sometimes introduces dependency issues that can be challenging to resolve.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While basic usage is straightforward, leveraging advanced features and understanding the compiler's workings can have a steep learning curve.
  • Documentation Variability
    The quality and comprehensiveness of documentation can vary, which might complicate the learning and development process for new users.
  • Niche Use Case
    Being a Scheme implementation, its niche use case might not align well with industries primarily relying on mainstream programming languages.

Analysis of Crystal (programming language)

Overall verdict

  • Crystal is considered a good choice for developers who appreciate the syntax and flexibility of Ruby but require the performance and safety of a compiled language. Its balance of readability and efficiency makes it ideal for projects where high performance is critical but developer productivity cannot be sacrificed. However, potential users should consider the relatively smaller community compared to more established languages.

Why this product is good

  • Crystal is designed to combine the elegance and productivity of Ruby with the performance and efficiency of a compiled language. It offers a syntax that is close to Ruby, making it easy to read and write, while its compiler produces highly optimized native code. The language features static type checking, which helps catch errors at compile time, and it comes with powerful concurrency support through lightweight fibers. Additionally, Crystal's extensive standard library and growing ecosystem make it suitable for a wide range of applications.

Recommended for

  • Developers who enjoy Ruby's syntax but need better performance.
  • Projects that require strong concurrency support.
  • Applications where native code performance is a priority.
  • Developers willing to explore a language with a smaller ecosystem.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Crystal (programming language) and Chicken)

Crystal (programming language)

Chicken

Programming Language
89 89%
Programming Language
11% 11
OOP
86 86%
OOP
14% 14
Generic Programming Language
91 91%
Generic Programming Language
9% 9
Development
100 100%
Development
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Crystal (programming language) seems to be a lot more popular than Chicken. While we know about 115 links to Crystal (programming language), we've tracked only 6 mentions of Chicken. 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.

Crystal (programming language) mentions (115)

  • Dotnet Run App.cs
    Have you heard of crystal[0]? It is very close to ruby, but compiled, with fast start times. [0]: https://crystal-lang.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 18 days ago
  • Rhombus Language
    Did you ever see Crystal? It's more or less a typed Ruby. I've heard that you can port some code directly. https://crystal-lang.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Tiny JITs for a Faster FFI
    If you like the Ruby syntax (but want a statically typed language), you might want to take a look at Crystal: https://crystal-lang.org/ > Crystal is statically typed and type errors are caught early by the compiler, eliminating a range of type-related errors at runtime. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Advent of Code #1 (in Gleam)
    I really enjoyed using Crystal last year. It is a very ergonomic language with a featureful standard library. I was tempted to use it again this year, but I figured I should use this opportunity to try something new. After considering several languages including Go, F#, Nim, and Raku, I decided to go with Gleam. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Understanding Ruby 3.3 Concurrency: A Comprehensive Guide
    Also check https://crystal-lang.org/ which aims for ruby like syntax/dx but almost native performance. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
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Chicken mentions (6)

  • Scheming About Clojure
    Clojure seems good enough. It is not flawless and somewhat overloaded, but far, far ahead of Javascript, Python, Go, or Rust. Of course, I would always prefer CHICKEN Scheme for any passion project. But in an environment that already runs databases written in Java, the JVM has street cred, and a large community hints at sustainability, Clojure presents itself as well balanced in novelty and stability. All in all,... - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Veryl: A Modern Hardware Description Language
    Of course it does! What else would you call something like chicken scheme [https://call-cc.org/], ats [https://ats-lang.sourceforge.net/], or ghc [https://www.haskell.org/ghc/]? They are not "scripts", they are full-blown compilers that happen to use C as their compilation target, and then leverage C compilers to generate code for a variety of architecures. it's a very sensible way to do things. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • The Rise & Fall of LISP - Too Good For The Rest Of the World
    CHICKEN Scheme \ CHICKEN is a compiler for the Scheme programming language. It produces portable and efficient C and supports the R5RS and R7RS (work in progress) standards, and many extensions. It runs on Linux, OS X, Windows, many Unix flavours... Source: about 2 years ago
  • One Minute: Chicken Scheme
    Website: http://call-cc.org Manual: http://wiki.call-cc.org/manual/index Wiki: http://wiki.call-cc.org/ Repository: https://code.call-cc.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=chicken-core.git;a=summary Standard Libraries: http://wiki.call-cc.org/man/5/Included%20modules Extension Repository: http://eggs.call-cc.org/5/. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Ante: A low-level functional language
    If you’re fine with tracing GC (which depends on the situation, of course), Standard ML is a perfectly boring language (that IIUC predated and inspired Caml) and MLton[1] is a very nice optimizing compiler for it. The language is awkward at times (in particular, the separate sublanguage of modules can be downright unwieldy), and the library has some of the usual blind spots such as nonexistent Unicode support... - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Crystal (programming language) and Chicken, you can also consider the following products

Nim (programming language) - The Nim programming language is a concise, fast programming language that compiles to C, C++ and JavaScript.

Guile - Guile is the GNU Ubiquitous Intelligent Language for Extensions, the official extension language for the GNU operating system.

Go Programming Language - Go, also called golang, is a programming language initially developed at Google in 2007 by Robert...

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

V (programming language) - Simple, fast, safe, compiled language for developing maintainable software.

Gambit - Cross-platform chess game.

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