Software Alternatives & Startups

Hack Lang VS Dart

Compare Hack Lang VS Dart and see what are their differences

Hack Lang

A programming language for HHVM that interoperates seamlessly with PHP

Rating
0 reviews
Dart

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

Rating
0 reviews

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Hack Lang seems to be a lot more popular than Dart. While we know about 22 links to Hack Lang, we've tracked only 1 mention of Dart.

social mentions
22 vs 1
Typography popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
76 vs 91

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

Hack Lang
Dart
Website hacklang.org dartlang.org
Listed in

About Hack Lang and Dart

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

Hack Lang
Dart

No description of Hack Lang yet.

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

Read more about Dart

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Hack Lang 6 features
Dart 7 features
  • Static Typing
    Hack adds static typing to PHP, which helps catch type-related errors early and improves code quality and maintainability.
  • Async Programming Support
    Hack has built-in support for asynchronous programming, making it easier to write non-blocking, high-performance applications.
  • Compatibility with PHP
    Hack is designed to be compatible with existing PHP code, making it easier for developers to transition from PHP to Hack without completely rewriting their codebase.
  • Type Annotations
    With type annotations, developers can specify the types of variables, return types of functions, and parameter types, which leads to more readable and self-documenting code.
  • Collections API
    Hack provides a rich collections API, which includes various data structures like Vector, Map, and Set, making it easier to work with data in a type-safe way.
  • Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Support
    IDE tools like HHVM and Hack development environments provide robust support for Hack, offering features such as autocompletion, real-time type checking, and error detection.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Ecosystem
    Hack does not have as large an ecosystem of libraries and frameworks as PHP, which might limit third-party integrations and available resources.
  • Learning Curve
    For developers coming from PHP or other dynamically-typed languages, there is a learning curve associated with the static typing and other advanced features of Hack.
  • Facebook Dependency
    Hack was developed by Facebook and is heavily associated with their infrastructure. This can lead to concerns about its future direction being tightly controlled by a single company.
  • Deployment Complexity
    Deploying Hack applications often requires the HipHop Virtual Machine (HHVM), which can add complexity to the deployment process compared to traditional LAMP stack setups.
  • Community Support
    Compared to more established languages like PHP, Hack has a smaller community, which may result in fewer tutorials, forums, and community-driven support options.
  • Performance Overheads
    While HHVM improves performance for PHP and Hack code, there can still be situations where performance tuning and optimization are necessary to achieve the desired performance.
  • Performance
    Dart is designed for optimal performance with its Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compilation, which allows it to compile to efficient native code.
  • Easy to Learn
    Dart's syntax is clear and closely resembling other popular languages like Java, JavaScript, and C#, making it relatively easy to pick up for developers familiar with those languages.
  • Strong Typing
    The language offers strong typing which allows for early detection of errors during development and helps in maintaining robust code.
  • Flutter Integration
    Dart’s seamless integration with Flutter makes it an excellent choice for cross-platform app development, enabling developers to write one codebase for both iOS and Android.
  • Hot Reload
    Dart, when used with Flutter, supports hot reload which speeds up the development process by allowing immediate reflection of changes without restarting the application.
  • Comprehensive Libraries
    Dart comes with a rich set of core libraries and packages, which provide extensive functionality without needing external dependencies.
  • Concurrency Support
    Dart provides robust support for asynchronous programming with features like Future and Stream, which simplify writing concurrent code.

Possible disadvantages

  • Relatively New Language
    Dart is relatively new compared to established languages like Java and JavaScript, meaning there can be fewer resources, tutorials, and a smaller community.
  • Limited Backend Development
    While Dart can be used for backend development with frameworks like Aqueduct and Shelf, it is not as mature or widely adopted as languages like Node.js, Python, or Java.
  • Tooling and IDE Support
    Dart does not have as extensive tooling and IDE support as some other more established languages, which could impact the development experience.
  • Ecosystem
    The ecosystem around Dart is not as large as those for other languages, meaning fewer third-party libraries, plugins, and tools might be available.
  • Small Talent Pool
    The adoption rate of Dart is lower compared to other languages, potentially making it harder to find experienced Dart developers.
  • Learning Curve
    Though similar to other languages, there is still a learning curve for adopting Dart, especially for developers who are more familiar with different programming paradigms.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

Hack Lang
Dart

Overall verdict

  • Hack Lang is considered good for projects that require the balance of PHP’s dynamic nature with the advantages of static typing. It provides a strong type system and useful modern features, making it a robust choice for developers familiar with PHP looking to optimize performance and code reliability.

Why this product is good

  • Hack Lang is an extension of PHP that was developed by Facebook to improve the efficiency, safety, and speed of their large codebase. It introduces static typing while still supporting PHP interop, which helps catch errors earlier in the development process. Hack Lang also includes features like collections, lambda expressions, and async programming, all of which are designed to modernize and enhance PHP development.

Recommended for

    Hack Lang is recommended for developers and large-scale organizations already using PHP who want to transition to a more modern and type-safe environment. It is particularly suitable for projects that require high performance and code maintainability, such as large web applications with complex business logic.

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Dart can be considered a good programming language for certain use cases.

Why this product is good

  • Dart is designed for client-side development, making it particularly suitable for building high-performance web and mobile applications.
  • It has a clean and easy-to-understand syntax, which is familiar to those who have experience with other C-based languages like Java, JavaScript, or C#.
  • Dart is the underlying language for Flutter, a popular framework for building cross-platform mobile applications, which means it benefits from strong support and integration with Flutter's robust ecosystem.
  • The language offers a great development experience with features like a strong static type system, asynchronous programming support, and comprehensive libraries.
  • Dart includes just-in-time (JIT) compilation for quick development cycles and ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation for fast, reliable production performance.

Recommended for

  • Developers who are working on cross-platform mobile applications using the Flutter framework.
  • Web developers seeking a language that offers fast compilation times and sound null safety.
  • Programmers looking for a modern, cohesive language with robust tooling and a strong core library.
  • Teams interested in a language that keeps elements consistent across web and mobile projects.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

Hack Lang 3 videos + Add
Dart 3 videos + Add

Project .hack Series Review! - The Game Collection

More videos

  • - Hacked Movie REVIEW | Deeksha Sharma
  • - Review: .hack//G.U. Last Recode (PS4, also on PC)

Best Darts Of 2019 My Top Ten Favourites

More videos

  • - Red Dragon 2020 World Champion Edition Peter Wright Darts Review 21g
  • - Winmau Michael van Gerwen Authentic 23g Darts Review

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
Hack Lang
Dart
100% 100%
0% 0%
34% 34%
66% 66%
0% 0%
OOP
100% 100%
100% 100%
0% 0%

User comments

Share your experience with using Hack Lang and Dart. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

Hack Lang 22 mentions
Dart 1 mention
  • PHP is Dead (and AI is to blame)
    > Make it a compiled language with virtual machine similar to Java. The times of recursively creating PHP-files to serve PHP-files are dated (*cough Smarty). Compilation with checks and strict typing will increase the code quality... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • PHP Almost Generics: Guided Journey Through the Official Compile-Time Proposal
    I'm glad that PHP has adopted more and more from Hack, Facebook's once fork and now completely separate language - https://hacklang.org/. It was never going to replace it (Go's success separate from Google has astounded me to be honest)... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Upcoming Hardening in PHP
    Doesn’t Facebook still run most of their backend on Hack[0] (compiled PHP subset)? [0] https://hacklang.org/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago

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Alternatives to Hack Lang and Dart

When comparing Hack Lang and Dart, you can also consider the following products.