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Erlang VS Crystal (programming language)

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

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  2. » Videos
  3. » Reviews
  4. » Alternatives

Erlang logo Erlang

A programming language used to build massively scalable soft real-time systems with requirements on high availability

Crystal (programming language) logo Crystal (programming language)

Programming language with Ruby-like syntax that compiles to efficient native code.
  • Erlang Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-09

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

  • Crystal (programming language) Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-26

Erlang features and specs

  • Concurrency
    Erlang is designed for massive concurrency and supports thousands of lightweight processes, making it ideal for applications requiring multiple parallel operations.
  • Fault Tolerance
    Erlang provides robust support for fault tolerance, with built-in mechanisms for process monitoring and error recovery, leading to high system availability.
  • Distributed Computing
    Erlang's architecture facilitates distributed computing with easy support for building scalable, distributed systems across multiple nodes.
  • Hot Code Swapping
    Erlang supports hot code swapping, enabling developers to update code on a live system without requiring a system restart, which is crucial for continuous operation.
  • Functional Programming
    Erlang’s functional programming paradigm leads to simpler code with fewer side effects, improving maintainability.
  • Strong Community
    Erlang has a strong community, with a wealth of resources, libraries, and frameworks that support developers in building efficient systems.

Possible disadvantages of Erlang

  • Learning Curve
    Erlang has a steep learning curve, especially for developers who are not familiar with functional programming or its concurrency model.
  • Syntax
    The syntax of Erlang can be unfamiliar and challenging to new users, which may hinder the initial coding experience.
  • Limited Libraries
    Despite having a strong community, Erlang has fewer libraries and tools compared to more popular languages, which may limit development options for certain applications.
  • Performance Limitations
    While Erlang excels in concurrency, its performance for compute-intensive tasks might not match that of languages specifically optimized for such operations.
  • Niche Use Cases
    Erlang's strengths in certain niches like telecoms and real-time systems might not translate well to more general or varied software development tasks, limiting its adoption.

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.

Erlang videos

+ Add

Book Review - Erlang in Anger

More videos:

  • Review - Erlang is getting pretty! - Michal Muskala | Code BEAM SF 20

Crystal (programming language) videos

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Category Popularity

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

Erlang

Crystal (programming language)

Programming Language
23 23%
Programming Language
77% 77
OOP
28 28%
OOP
72% 72
Generic Programming Language
16 16%
Generic Programming Language
84% 84
Development
42 42%
Development
58% 58

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 Erlang. While we know about 114 links to Crystal (programming language), we've tracked only 2 mentions of Erlang. 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.

Erlang mentions (2)

  • Perfect Elixir: Environment Setup
    I’m on MacOS and erlang.org, elixir-lang.org, and postgresql.org all suggest installation via Homebrew, which is a very popular package manager for MacOS. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • What is Calypso?
    However, as Elixir is inherently tied to the BEAM and Erlang/OTP, it means that it has features like immutable variables (though you can rebind them and have state via process loops, e.g. Agents or GenServers). This also means that OTP is the main "application framework" for Elixir/Erlang. In my opinion, OTP is a pretty good design philosophy for applications, but sometimes it's just kind of hard to set up or wrap... - Source: dev.to / about 4 years ago

Crystal (programming language) mentions (114)

  • 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 / about 2 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 / 3 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 / 5 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 / 6 months ago
  • Crystal 1.11.0 Is Released
    I like the first code example on https://crystal-lang.org 
        # A very basic HTTP server.
    - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

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

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

Perl - Highly capable, feature-rich programming language with over 26 years of development

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

D (Programming Language) - D is a language with C-like syntax and static typing.

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