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ExpressJS VS MLton

Compare ExpressJS VS MLton and see what are their differences

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ExpressJS logo ExpressJS

Sinatra inspired web development framework for node.js -- insanely fast, flexible, and simple

MLton logo MLton

MLton is an open-source, whole-program, optimizing Standard ML compiler
  • ExpressJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-14
  • MLton Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-25

ExpressJS features and specs

  • Fast Setup
    ExpressJS provides a minimal and flexible framework that allows rapid setup and development of web and mobile applications.
  • Middleware Support
    ExpressJS has a robust middleware system, allowing developers to add reusable functions to the request-handling pipeline.
  • Extensibility
    ExpressJS is highly extensible through third-party libraries and built-in functionality, catering to the needs of various applications.
  • Performance
    Due to its minimalist core, ExpressJS provides efficient performance and is capable of handling a high number of requests per second.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    A large and active community provides extensive documentation, support, and a wide array of open-source packages to extend functionality.
  • Flexibility
    Compared to full-stack frameworks, ExpressJS gives developers the freedom to structure their applications as they see fit.
  • Compatibility
    ExpressJS works seamlessly with various template engines, databases, and other frameworks, making it versatile for different project requirements.

Possible disadvantages of ExpressJS

  • Minimalist Core
    The minimalist nature of ExpressJS may require additional time and effort to integrate required plugins and libraries for specific features.
  • Learning Curve
    While ExpressJS is straightforward, mastering the middleware pattern and effective usage can have a learning curve for new developers.
  • Callback Hell
    Developers can encounter 'callback hell' due to nested callback functions, though this can be mitigated using Promises and async/await in modern JavaScript.
  • Lack of Convention
    Unlike opinionated frameworks, ExpressJS lacks conventions, which can lead to inconsistent code structure and maintenance challenges across different projects.
  • Security
    ExpressJS does not have built-in security features and relies on third-party solutions, requiring developers to be vigilant about applying best security practices.
  • Scalability
    While ExpressJS can handle high traffic, building and maintaining a highly scalable application might require significant additional effort, particularly in terms of codebase organization and resource management.

MLton features and specs

  • Performance
    MLton is known for producing highly optimized, efficient executables due to its whole-program compilation approach. This can result in faster performance compared to other Standard ML compilers.
  • Standard ML Compliance
    MLton has strong adherence to the Standard ML language specification, ensuring that programs written for MLton are highly portable and conform to the expected language standards.
  • Rich Optimization
    The compiler includes numerous optimization techniques, enabling better runtime performance and memory usage for compiled applications.
  • Large Language Support
    MLton supports the full breadth of the Standard ML language, including advanced features like functors and modules.

Possible disadvantages of MLton

  • Compilation Time
    Due to its whole-program optimization techniques, MLton can take longer to compile programs compared to other compilers that use separate compilation.
  • Executable Size
    Although MLton optimizes for performance, this can sometimes result in larger executable sizes than compilers that don't perform as many optimizations.
  • Limited Interactivity
    MLton is optimized for batch processing and does not provide interactive development features like a REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop), which can be a downside for some developers used to interactive programming environments.
  • Platform Availability
    While MLton supports several platforms, its availability may not be as widespread as other more commonly used programming environments, which could limit use in certain contexts.

Analysis of ExpressJS

Overall verdict

  • ExpressJS is a highly recommended option for building web applications with Node.js. Its simplicity, extensive middleware options, and strong community support make it a solid choice for both beginners and experienced developers. However, it might not be the best fit for highly complex applications that require more opinionated frameworks with more built-in features.

Why this product is good

  • ExpressJS is a minimalist and flexible web application framework for Node.js. It provides a robust set of features for building web and mobile applications, making it a popular choice among developers.
  • It offers a thin layer of fundamental web application features, without obscuring Node.js features that developers use regularly.
  • ExpressJS has a large ecosystem of middleware to handle various tasks such as security, session management, and file uploads, which simplifies the development process.
  • It's known for its fast learning curve, which makes it particularly advantageous for developers who are new to backend web development but familiar with JavaScript.

Recommended for

  • Developers looking for a lightweight and flexible web framework for Node.js.
  • Projects where quick setup and ease of development are priorities.
  • Applications that require a custom architecture and a high degree of flexibility.
  • Teams who prefer to build their technology stack from the ground up and have control over the specific components used.

Category Popularity

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JavaScript Framework
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OOP
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100% 100
Developer Tools
100 100%
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Programming Language
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100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

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

ExpressJS Reviews

Top JavaScript Frameworks in 2025
Express.JS is used to create Restful APIs, which is useful for accepting requests from the front end and sending the appropriate response. Express.JS supports Node.js, which is one of the best reasons developers choose to use it. Moreover, debugging becomes faster and helps in finding errors in less time.
Source: solguruz.com
The 20 Best Laravel Alternatives for Web Development
Express.js — or Express for the cool cats — is Node.js’s minimalist wingman. It’s the train tracks for your web app, setting the path, defining the stops, but letting you drive the engine.
Top 9 best Frameworks for web development
The best frameworks for web development include React, Angular, Vue.js, Django, Spring, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, Flask and Express.js. Each of these frameworks has its own advantages and distinctive features, so it is important to choose the framework that best suits the needs of your project.
Source: www.kiwop.com
9 Best JavaScript Frameworks to Use in 2023
Additionally, Express.js v4 now comes with built-in middleware for handling AJAX requests from the client side, making it even easier to get started without having to worry about 3rd party libraries. Express.js is a great tool for quickly building out web applications and APIs in Node.js.
Source: ninetailed.io
JavaScript: What Are The Most Used Frameworks For This Language?
Express.JS is a popular open-source web application framework for Node.JS, which is a server-side JavaScript runtime environment. Express.JS provides a simple, flexible and scalable way to build web applications and APIs using Node.JS. It is known for its minimalist and unimposing approach, which means it provides a basic set of features and tools but allows developers to...
Source: www.bocasay.com

MLton Reviews

We have no reviews of MLton yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, ExpressJS seems to be a lot more popular than MLton. While we know about 470 links to ExpressJS, we've tracked only 5 mentions of MLton. 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.

ExpressJS mentions (470)

  • 🔥 Why Everyone Is Talking About HTMX: The Game-Changer for Web Development
    🌍 Who Should Use HTMX? ✅ Django / Flask / Rails developers ✅ Express / Node.js backend lovers ✅ Fullstack devs who want LESS frontend headache ✅ Teams jo SSR + SEO ko priority dete hain. - Source: dev.to / 21 days ago
  • Not a Middy Fan
    Express.js was created around the time callbacks were _the_ architecture in Node.js. The world, including UI, quickly found callbacks do not compose well, and void return values are hard to test because of side-effects. Promises were created so you could compose functions, but still have control where your side-effects go. This negates the need for middlewares / callbacks. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Experimental Devvit Web Views
    The Devvit team just announced a new experimental way to build WebView based apps for Reddit. Previously only static HTML/JS/CSS could be used. With this new version, it is possible to run server-side code through Node including spinning up an Express server. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • How to Handle File Uploads with Node.js and Express - Multer Edition
    Basic knowledge of JavaScript and Express. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Reusable API proxy in just a few lines of JavaScript
    The basis of my small API proxy is the NPM package http-proxy-middleware from Steven Chim, which I utilized to build a system that can be used via configuration for various endpoints and that runs on a server under the Node.js framework Express. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
View more

MLton mentions (5)

  • Simple JSON parser in c++, rust, ocaml, standard ml
    Once I got the parser ready in OCaml, I thought I port it to Standard ML, since it belong to the same ML language family. I was also curious on how well mlton could optimise it. The language lacks custom let bindings, so I resorted to use Result.bind manually. This makes code much less readable and more verbose. The standard library also lacks result type, so I had to come up with my own simple implementation.... - 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 / about 3 years ago
  • Write your own programming language in an hour with Chumsky
    Unfortunately, I haven't found a ton of "easily-digestible" and, at the same time, comprehensive guides on compiling functional languages. Generally you'll find a mix of blog posts/class notes/papers covering a single step. Some resources I like: - Andrew Kennedy's 2007 paper Compiling with Continuations, Continued [1]. This one is the most clear IMO - Andrew Appel's Compiling with Continuations book... - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago
  • Why are imperative programs considered faster than their functional counterparts?
    More broadly, they can be fast even without such extensions if they aggressively pursue optimization opportunities afforded by static typing, like MLton for example, but that also impacts compilation performance negatively. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Coalton: How to Have Our (Typed) Cake and (Safely) Eat It Too, in Common Lisp
    According to the OP, it's from http://mlton.org/ (see https://coalton-lang.github.io/20211010-introducing-coalton/#acknowledgements ). - Source: Hacker News / almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing ExpressJS and MLton, you can also consider the following products

Node.js - Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications

Poly/ML - The Poly/ML implementation of Standard ML – full multiprocessor support in the thread library and garbage collector, interactive debugger, fast compiler.

Ruby on Rails - Ruby on Rails is an open source full-stack web application framework for the Ruby programming...

OCaml - (* Binary tree with leaves carrying an integer.

Django - The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines

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