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Erlang VS Kotlin

Compare Erlang VS Kotlin and see what are their differences

Erlang logo Erlang

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

Kotlin logo Kotlin

Statically typed Programming Language targeting JVM and JavaScript
  • Erlang Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-09

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

  • Kotlin Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-09

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

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.

Kotlin features and specs

  • Interoperability
    Kotlin is fully interoperable with Java, which means developers can use both languages within the same project and have seamless communications between them.
  • Conciseness
    Kotlin reduces boilerplate code, making the codebase easier to read and maintain. It offers concise syntax and reduces the amount of code.
  • Null Safety
    Kotlin's type system is designed to eliminate null pointer exceptions by making all types non-nullable by default, thus enhancing reliability and reducing runtime crashes.
  • Coroutines
    Kotlin provides built-in support for coroutines, which makes writing asynchronous code more straightforward and readable compared to traditional approaches.
  • Modern Language Features
    Kotlin includes advanced features such as lambda expressions, extension functions, higher-order functions, and more, improving productivity and providing more expressive code constructs.
  • Full Tooling Support
    Kotlin is supported by major IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio, Eclipse, and others, with full tooling support including debugging, refactoring, and linting.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    Kotlin has a growing and vibrant community with extensive resources, libraries, and frameworks that support a wide range of programming needs.

Possible disadvantages of Kotlin

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its modern features, Kotlin has a learning curve, especially for developers who are more familiar with Java or other programming languages.
  • Compilation Speed
    Kotlin's compilation speed is often slower compared to Java, which can impact the development workflow, especially in larger projects.
  • Runtime Performance
    While Kotlin performs comparably to Java in many cases, there can be minor performance hits in certain scenarios due to additional language features.
  • Fewer Resources Compared to Java
    Although growing, Kotlin's ecosystem of libraries and frameworks is still smaller compared to Java's well-established and extensive ecosystem.
  • Tooling Maturity
    While support in major IDEs is robust, some third-party tools and plugins may not fully support Kotlin, leading to potential integration issues.
  • Android Specific Challenges
    In the context of Android development, some legacy libraries and tools might not be fully compatible with Kotlin, necessitating additional workarounds.
  • Job Market
    While demand for Kotlin developers is growing, Java still dominates the job market, which may limit opportunities for Kotlin-focused roles in certain regions.

Erlang videos

Book Review - Erlang in Anger

More videos:

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

Kotlin videos

10 reasons to try Kotlin for Android development

More videos:

  • Review - What can Kotlin do for me? (GDD Europe '17)
  • Review - Java or Kotlin for Android Development – Which One Is Better?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Erlang and Kotlin)
Programming Language
22 22%
78% 78
OOP
27 27%
73% 73
Generic Programming Language
Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Erlang and Kotlin

Erlang Reviews

We have no reviews of Erlang yet.
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Kotlin Reviews

Explore 9 Top Eclipse Alternatives for 2024
Cross-platform development with variants targeting JVM (Kotlin/JVM), JavaScript (Kotlin/JS), and native code (Kotlin/Native).
Source: aircada.com
Top 10 Rust Alternatives
The last computer programming language to stand out as an exceptional alternative to Rust is named Kotlin. It is typed statically and was manufactured for Java machines.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Kotlin seems to be a lot more popular than Erlang. While we know about 81 links to Kotlin, 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

Kotlin mentions (81)

  • Doodle Weather Clone
    Doodle helps you create beautiful, modern apps entirely in Kotlin. Its render model is intuitive yet powerful, making it easy to achieve complex UIs with pixel level precision and layouts. This simplicity and power applies to everything from user input to drag and drop. Doodle lets you build and animate anything. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Kotlin vs. Java: A Grand Finale and Farewell (But Not Goodbye!)
    Kotlin Official Website: Your one-stop shop for all things Kotlin, with comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and resources: https://kotlinlang.org/. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Day 0 of #100daysofMiva || Setting up for success
    Next, I selected the technologies and frameworks I want to focus on during this challenge. For frontend development, I'll be exploring Reactjs, Vue.js, Bootstrap, Next.js, and MUI. For backend development, I'll be diving into Express, Django, Node.js, PHP, and Firebase. Additionally, I'll be learning Kotlin, React Native, and Flutter for mobile development, and APIs, PostgreSQL, Cloud, and MongoDB for full stack... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Better Animations... in Latest Doodle
    Doodle helps you create beautiful, modern apps entirely in Kotlin. Its render model is intuitive yet powerful, making it easy to achieve complex UIs with pixel level precision and layouts. This simplicity and power applies to everything from user input to drag and drop. Doodle lets you build and animate anything. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • The Top Programming Languages to Learn in 2024
    Kotlin, fully interoperable with Java, is increasingly used for Android app development. It offers a more concise syntax and improved safety features compared to Java, making it a modern language for mobile development. Discover more about Kotlin here. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Erlang and Kotlin, you can also consider the following products

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

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

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

JavaScript - Lightweight, interpreted, object-oriented language with first-class functions

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

Dart - A new web programming language with libraries, a virtual machine, and tools